Posted on: Thursday, November 1, 2001

Editorial
House mustn't duck on airport security

The best way to get a skittish flying public back into the air is to assure stringent airport security. Only this week, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta was citing "intolerable" lapses.

The U.S. Senate has taken an important step in this direction by voting unanimously to make all airport security screeners federal workers with the same status as customs or immigration officials.

That bill is in trouble, however, in the House, which is expected to vote on the issue today. The opposition centers on those whose ideology revolves around making government smaller, not larger, through privatizing.

Airport screening to date hasn't given privatization a good name, with the screeners reporting directly to the airlines. That doesn't mean a privatized scheme can't work; the White House favors the model of some European countries and Israel, where governments retain tight control of training and supervision but the forces remain private.

Either way, the status quo must be replaced.

Public or private, airport security must improve drastically.

"I want consistent accountability," said Mineta. "I want confidence restored in the screening system." He proposes to accomplish that in the short term by putting new government inspectors in airports.

The long-term answer is to give screeners the training and authority to match their heavy responsibility. The House must help that happen in its vote today.