Security Shortlines

Air Safety Week, June 30, 2008

Airlines and DHS at Odds Over Proposed Airport 'Exit' Program

Both the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the US Air Transport Association (ATA) object to a proposal by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would set up an "exit" program at U.S. airports. It would require air carriers to fund and manage the collection of fingerprints from non- US citizens departing the United States. "The US-VISIT Exit plan should be terminated now," says ATA President and CEO James C. May. "Not only is the rulemaking proceeding not justifiable, it is purely and simply against the law." May continued: "DHS seems intent on ignoring Congress' clear direction that the Department be responsible for fingerprint collection, and DHS continues to unfairly try to shrug this responsibility onto the airlines. Additionally, by its own estimate, DHS proposes to burden the airline industry with more than $3 billion in additional expenses over the next decade - this action is indefensible" IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani, said the program would result in significant and unnecessary delays in passenger processing, disrupt connections at airports throughout the world, and cost the airline industry $12.3 billion over 10 years. Bisignani added that the exit program would "impose yet another duplicative, complex and costly mandate on the back of the industry."

Smiths Intros Hand-Held Vapor Detector

Smiths Detection has introduced a hand-held vapor detector for volatile chemicals commonly used in homemade bombs. The SABRE EXV, using Smiths Detection's Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) technology, is a lightweight portable device that can detect and identify explosive substances, including peroxide-based chemicals, in as little as 10 seconds. The firm's Stephen Phipson said: "The SABRE EXV will fill a gap in detecting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for the military and the airline industry in particular." Peroxide-based chemicals found in common household products have been used as the basic ingredients of many IEDs which are relatively easy to make and difficult to detect. They have been used in a number of high-profile terror plots in recent years and the SABRE EXV has been developed specifically to combat those threats.

Peroxide-based explosives continue to be a major challenge to security officials and a serious threat to the traveling public. The SABRE EXV will provide aviation security officials and the military a reliable, lightweight detector that can detect these unstable chemicals, which pose a threat when assembled as part of a bomb or while being transported.

Drunk on Delta Flight Jailed

CNN reported that a drunk passenger who tried to set the curtains of a Boeing 767 on fire during a transatlantic flight was placed in custody in Vienna, Austria. The Transportation Security Administration said there was no apparent connection to terrorism. Zoltan Lensky, 25, a Slovakian citizen, was on Delta Flight 40 from Atlanta to Vienna when flight attendants refused his request for more liquor. According to TSA, Lensky slapped a flight attendant on the hand, moved forward in the cabin, pulled out a lighter and tried to ignite the curtains around the flight attendants' rest area. A federal air marshal on the flight arrested Lensky and put him in handcuffs.

Group Wants Right To Toke Up At Airports

The Denver, CO-based organization Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is calling on the government to allow travelers to smoke marijuana in the same airport lounges currently approved for tobacco smoking. The group believes dope smoking airline passengers will reduce in-flight problems involving drunk and disorderly passengers. SAFER says marijuana is a good substitute for alcohol since it would help jittery or agitated fliers relax. If approved by law enforcement, which is very doubtful, USAir would have to provide "munchies" to its "high" passengers. The U.S. air carrier recently stopped serving snacks aboard flights as part of an economy move.

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