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Guest Commentary November 5, 2001
Restoring the Confidence of the Traveling Public
The Honorable John D. 'Jay' Rockefeller IV
We in Congress have spent the last six weeks working to improve security at airports.
Unfortunately, the House of Representatives last week rejected the far-reaching and aggressive bill put forth by this Committee and passed unanimously by the full Senate. This is a real setback for security, but if we all keep the safety of the American people foremost in our minds, then it should be only a temporary one.
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In the meantime, we must begin to explore the role technology can play in addressing security challenges. Prior to September 11, our best intelligence sources believed that a terrorist attack using airplanes as missiles and airports as launching pads was something you’d find in a Hollywood script – certainly not a realistic scenario and certainly not worth spending millions, or billions, of federal dollars to prevent.
Now, tragically, all that has changed.
Today, we have to think much more comprehensively and much more creatively. We must be able to monitor and share real-time information about who is getting on a plane, what are they bringing with them, who has access to airport security areas and aircraft, and, ultimately, whether all of those people really are who they claim to be.
Last Tuesday, Secretary Mineta was quoted as saying that "an unacceptable number of deficiencies continue to occur" at the nation's airports. Appropriately, he expressed a willingness to ground aircraft and close entire concourses at major airports if the situation doesn't improve.
Technology, in the hands of well-trained, highly skilled, professionals, should allow us to address these problems – and we must address them as quickly as possible if we're going to restore the confidence of the traveling public and the financial health of an industry that is critical to our economic security.
John D. 'Jay' Rockefeller IV is a U.S. Senator (D-West Virginia). The above has been adapted from a statement Sen. Rockefeller gave at a hearing of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, November 5, 2001. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
