Despite $12 Billion In Security Upgrades, Few Passengers, Bags Actually Screened

Think about it for a minute. Since September 11th, 2001, Washington has spent more than $12 billion to improve security at airports and in the sky. Privately contracted security screeners have been replaced by federal screeners. The Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security, which in turn spawned the TSA.

So, are we safer? The San Francisco Chronicle reports the answer to that appears to be a resounding "no."

The September 11th Commission says passengers are seldom scanned for explosives. All too often, weapons are still getting through security checkpoints and not every known terrorist is on the list of people barred from flight (senators like Ted Kennedy and former vice presidents like Al Gore are on the list, but not all the known terrorists).

So it's no wonder that lawmakers like Congressman John Mica (R-FL) say last month's bombing of two Russian jetliners is a "wake-up call."

"Those (Russian) events usher in a whole new era of threats to commercial aviation,'' Mica (right), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, told The Chronicle. "My greatest concern is that we have not deployed the technology to adequately detect explosives carried onboard an aircraft.''

In the wake of the twin bombings over Russia, Mica wrote to TSA leader David Stone, pushing him to speed up deployment of sniffer technology designed to ferret out traces of explosives on airline passengers. "We cannot afford to wait any longer, '' he said.

Russian authorities think two Chechen women boarded the Tupelov Tu-154 and Tu-134 on August 24th, armed with explosives hidden inside their bodies (we'll leave it to you to imagine how).

The 9/11 Commission agrees with Mica's sentiment. In their final report, commission members wrote the TSA "must give priority attention to... screening people for explosives, not just their carry-on bags.''

As for the no-fly lists, Mica told the paper, "We're wasting our time. We're spending 98 percent of our resources harassing people who pose no threat.''

DHS Secretary Tom Ridge defended the TSA last week when, on Tuesday, he told reporters at the National Press Club, "We have deployed newly trained screeners and thousands of federal air marshals. We've hardened cockpit doors on the aircraft; we've introduced state-of-the-art technologies which, from curb to the cockpit, have made airline travel safer.''

Some of the TSA's efforts have run afoul of civil libertarians. Take, for instance, the CAPPS II program. For now, at least, that's a dead issue. Instead, the TSA will soon take over matching passengers against the various terror watch lists.

The point of the exercise, according to the 9/11 Commission and lawmakers like Mica is this: we're still vulnerable and time is running out.

FMI: www.tsa.gov