Government to review 'stupid rules'

IRVING, Texas -- Aviation security measures are being put through a "stupid-rule review" to cull those that improve security from those that simply hassle passengers, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Michael Jackson said.

"We're looking at all our rules to make sure we have balanced appropriate security with common sense," said Jackson, who was in this Dallas suburb Friday to attend a transportation summit.

Jackson said that James Loy, the new chief of the Transportation Security Administration, has been assigned to review the security measures.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the aviation industry hastily tried to close gaps in security by banning more carry-on items, restricting parking near airport terminals and checking passengers and crew members more closely.

One of the more controversial rules involves a ban on non-factory-sealed bottles filled with liquid. Bottles of breast milk were exempted from the rule. But in April a woman was told by a security worker at John F. Kennedy Airport that she had to drink from three bottles of her own breast milk before being allowed to board a flight to prove that the liquid was harmless.

The rule was imposed because such bottles could hold hazardous liquids that could be combustible, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.

"The rule's not bad," he said, "but there was no common sense applied."

One of the most common complaints travelers make is that they were fondled by security officials of the opposite sex, according to statistics from the Transportation Security Administration. Others complain they are targeted because of their race.

Airline executives have criticized prolonged searches of flight crews and restricted parking at hub airports. The "300-foot-rule" is intended to thwart car bombers by restricting parking near terminals. The rule fits the "stupid" category, airport officials say, because a suicide bomber could just as easily drive to the nearby curbside, bypassing the garage.

Changes in N.Y. disaster response

NEW YORK -- Police and fire officials pledged tighter command, improved communication and better cooperation in future large-scale emergencies while releasing reports Monday that examine the response to the World Trade Center attack.

The reports, prepared by high-ranking department officials and management consultant McKinsey & Co., found the rescue effort -- while heroic and largely successful -- was hurt by poor organization, faulty radio equipment and the departments' failure to work together.

Both departments have been lauded for their bravery, but they also had problems with staffing -- caused, ironically, by individual firefighters' and officers' zeal to save lives, the report said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said too many officers responded to the scene; the Fire Department report said some units disobeyed orders to report to staging points around the trade center area, instead heading into the towers.

Once inside, serious radio problems left many commanders and firefighters unable to communicate with each other, the report found. And the Fire Department's radios were incompatible with the police radio system.

Bloomberg promised to make sure the Fire Department's radios work properly in the future, regardless of cost. Police are also considering opening their citywide system of radio signal-boosting repeaters to the FDNY.

Also . . .

TOLL LOWERED: The medical examiner's office on Monday released the first comprehensive accounting of World Trade Center victims -- a list of 2,819 names that reduces the toll by four, the first change in the overall number in months.

The names will be read at the city's Sept. 11 ground zero anniversary ceremony.

But city officials in charge of the massive compilation effort cautioned they are not ready to call 2,819 the final number.

SOLDIERS WOUNDED: Two U.S. special operations soldiers were wounded while on an intelligence gathering operation in central Afghanistan, a military spokesman. One soldier was shot in the calf, the other in the upper thigh in the attack early Sunday in Uruzgan province, said Col. Roger King at Bagram air base. The soldiers' names were withheld.

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