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Deadline to check luggage unlikely
By BILL ADAIR WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says he can't meet a 60-day deadline for screening all checked luggage because his agency doesn't have enough workers, explosive-detection machines or bomb-sniffing dogs. Mineta said his goal is to have passengers wait no longer than 10 minutes at security checkpoints. But he warned of longer delays over the next year as the government takes over security tasks now handled by private contractors. "It's going to be an inconvenience to a lot of folks," Mineta said Tuesday after speaking at a conference on homeland security. The new aviation security law sets a Jan. 18 deadline for the government to screen all checked bags. But Mineta called that unrealistic. He said the Department of Transportation might screen only a portion of the bags. Otherwise, Mineta said he may have to be frank with Congress that he can't meet the deadline. Mineta said the screening checkpoints around the nation are so understaffed that he has teased Mitch Daniels, President Bush's top budget official, about the need to help. He said he told Daniels "I'm sending you to Topeka to do the screening." The new law is expected to create about 28,000 new federal jobs for security workers. But it will be about one year before they are hired and take over those duties. Mineta said the government is hampered by a shortage of bomb-sniffing dogs, which can be used to supplement explosive-detection machines and hand-searching. The dogs have keen noses for finding bombs, but they get tired. "They are good for about an hour and then they have to take a rest," Mineta said. He joked that the dogs have work rules, even though they are not members of a labor union. The Federal Aviation Administration has 188 dogs at 39 airports and plans to add them at 25 additional airports next year and 16 more airports the following year. The government also has a shortage of the sophisticated machines that detect explosives in checked luggage. About 100 of them are in use around the country, but production has been slow. L-3 Communications, a Clearwater company that makes them, has had difficulty meeting FAA quality-control standards. The other manufacturer, InVision, cannot make them fast enough to meet the government's needs. Mineta said he is exploring whether companies that make similar equipment for medical use can switch to making the bomb-detection machines. The 60-day deadline for screening checked luggage was adopted during the final House-Senate negotiations two weeks ago. Many congressional leaders considered it unrealistic, but wanted to keep pressure on the Bush administration to move quickly to improve luggage screening. Currently, less than 5 percent of checked luggage is screened for explosives. Luggage is screened when an airline computer determines that a passenger fits an FAA profile for being a higher security risk. Bags of other passengers are also randomly picked for screening. Mineta's comments got a mixed reaction from Capitol Hill. Some Republicans said Mineta was right that the deadline was unrealistic. Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said he wasn't surprised the DOT probably won't meet the deadline. "It has to be realistic, and it also has to be flexible. That didn't meet the test," said Mica, a Republican from Winter Park. But House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt said Mineta should enlist help from the National Guard to meet the deadline. "The American people can't wait another few months before we begin screening all checked baggage for bombs," Gephardt of Missouri said. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer appeared to contradict Mineta when he emphasized that the Bush administration was going to work hard to meet the deadline. "Congress gave a very tight 60-day deadline, and the administration is going to do everything it possibly can to comply with it," Fleischer said. - Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.
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From the Times wire desk
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