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Guest Commentary: September 26, 2001
How to Make Our Airlines Safe Again
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
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Our nation is now hesitant to fly. Passengers have canceled scheduled flights en masse and I, for one, can hardly blame them. Just this week we heard chilling reports that more acts of terror may be planned in our skies, and, even after the tragic events of September 11, we continue to hear anecdotes of lax security at our nation’s airports. Almost overnight, air travel -- a way of life for millions of Americans every day -- is limping along. Families who gather to celebrate holidays, businesspeople who depend upon air transport, and Americans who simply prefer the speed of airplanes -- now all must deal with the awful reality of terrorism. The hard economic truth of September 11 is that it scared so many passengers from airlines that it threatens to destroy our multi-billion dollar aviation industry. ...
Yet still today, in a remarkable show of patriotism, there is a chorus, especially those in law enforcement, asking "what can I do?" to protect and defend our fellow countrymen from future terrorist tragedies.
What we need to do is harness this spirit to make our airlines safe again for American families. So I am introducing legislation that authorizes the Attorney General, as our nation's top law enforcement official, to establish a comprehensive Federal Air Marshal program to secure airports from curbside to cockpit. And to capitalize on the desire of so many Americans to serve our country in the fight against terrorism, the legislation specifically authorizes and encourages the Attorney General to use active and retired federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to serve in the Air Marshal program.
We need a uniform Federal Air Marshal program to combat potential terrorism from the minute a passenger arrives at an airport until the time he or she arrives safely at their intended destination. This requires a professional law enforcement team to police airport points of entry, operate x-ray machines, and serve as undercover air security marshals on board commercial aircraft. While we have an existing FAA Federal Air Marshal program on board aircraft, we need to expand federal aviation security to put more federal marshals on more flights and to stop terrorism on the ground before it can board an aircraft. For a comprehensive Air Marshal program to be most effective, we need to relieve the obligations of airport security from the FAA and the airlines, whose primary purpose is to facilitate and manage air travel, and entrust that obligation to the Department of Justice, whose primary mission is to enforce federal law, and most important, to safeguard and protect us from terrorism.
Obviously this new Federal Air Marshals program will require additional manpower and financial resources. And that is where we intend to harness the volunteer spirit espoused by so many of our law enforcement personnel throughout the country. The new Federal Air Marshals program not only will recruit new full-time active professional marshals but will augment that program with Deputy Federal Air Marshals drawn from retired military personnel, as well as active or retired Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers – anyone from a DEA agent to a local law enforcement officer who wants to serve his country by securing our airports and aircraft. It is also crucial that we retain a sufficient measure of cost-sharing with private and state and local entities. Private airlines and airport authorities should share a responsibility, as they do now, to help fund a portion of airport security.
The Attorney General will, of course, determine how to deploy the Deputy Air Marshals most effectively, and will ensure that they are properly trained to perform the task required of them – be it deploying anti-hijacking measures on board an aircraft or searching suspicious packages in the terminal tasks. What is certain, however, is that tapping this reservoir of knowledgeable and experienced law enforcement officers to serve this vital national security function will allow us to put more Marshals both in the air and on the ground. Our goal should be to secure as many airports and as many aircraft as possible using the most experienced and professional staff available.
We actually already have models in place for the type of curbside to cockpit security envisioned in this bill. Our federal courthouses currently are secured by our United States Marshals, who also employ Court Security Officers to provide security around the perimeter of the building, at each point of entry, and in the courtrooms themselves. These CSOs are themselves retired Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel. Part of the reason our courthouses are so secure today is that this unified system provides for layers of security far before one enters the actual courtroom. This is perhaps why Americans have so little to fear today when they walk inside a federal courtroom. What is good for our federal judges is good for all Americans. Our nation's Capitol also is secured by a uniform system of federal officers who patrol from the interior of this chamber to the surrounding neighborhood sidewalks. Our democracy now demands, in the interest of our national security, that we make sure our cockpits are every bit as secure as our courthouses and [the Senate] chamber.
There are times and events such as these, where the federal government is not only the best answer, but the only answer. The challenge we face in securing our airports and airlines is not a matter of free market economics -- it is a matter of national security, as the tragic events of September 11 made so horrifying clear. That is why it is imperative that we entrust this national security item with the resources, expertise, and experience of our nation's top law enforcement agency, and that we do so immediately.
Note: The above commentary has been adapted from a speech Sen. McConnell made on the floor of the Senate, September 20, 2001.
 How to contact Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)
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