Looking for bombs, not scissors

WASHINGTON — Airline passengers soon will be allowed to carry small scissors and some sharp tools onto planes, but there will be a trade-off: the prospect of more thorough pat-downs and other extra security checks before they get to the gate.

The changes announced Friday by Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley are aimed at catching terrorists carrying explosives, which the agency considers a greater threat than dangerous objects smuggled into an airplane cabin.

Flight attendants and relatives of some Sept. 11 attack victims strongly oppose the change, saying it will make airliners more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

"They're just inviting trouble," said Marcus Flagg, a cargo pilot whose parents died in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Airlines and airports generally support the plan, as does the largest pilots' union.

Hawley said screeners — recently renamed "transportation security officers" — spend too much time looking for objects that don't pose much of a risk, slowing security lines.

Since the TSA took over airport screening on Nov. 19, 2002, the agency has confiscated more than 30 million prohibited items from carry-on bags. Hawley said about one-fourth of those were small scissors and tools, which will be taken off the list Dec. 22.

As part of the effort to focus on bombs, Hawley said more than 18,000 screeners have received enhanced explosives detection training. As a result, a screener searching a carry-on bag at St. Louis airport found a bomb detonator in November. The person carrying the device was someone who worked with such items and was not a terrorist, Hawley said.

Other changes are aimed at making security checks less predictable for terrorists.

All passengers still will walk through metal detectors and their carry-on bags still will go through an X-ray machine. But more will be chosen randomly at checkpoints for secondary screening, though the type of extra check may vary; they might be patted down, their shoes may be checked for bombs, their bags may be searched or they may just be checked with a wand.

"By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals who wish to do us harm," Hawley said.

Pat-downs will be more thorough. Now, screeners only check passengers' backs and abdomens. Starting Dec. 22 they'll be checking arms and legs.