ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
LABRADOR RETRIEVERS are purchased and trained for their high intelligence, good natures, and exceptional sniffers.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is developing a plan to train and provide bomb-sniffing dogs for up to 50 of the nation's largest airports, in a proposed new step toward tightening security for air travelers in the wake of last month's suspicious crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800.
The Labrador retrievers, with highly sensitive and well-educated noses, could offer a cheap method of increasing protection against terrorist bombs in the near future while the government considers an ambitious, long-term plan to require installation of high-tech explosives detection devices.
To purchase and train a dog costs about $8,500, compared with up to $1 million apiece for some of the sophisticated machines that are available but that could take years to install, according to officials familiar with the proposal. Many experts argue that canines alone could not do the job, because they are unable to screen large volumes of luggage as efficiently as machines can and are not as effective at scenting the telltale chemicals used in bombs.
If the ATF plan is approved, individual airports would decide exactly how the dogs would be used, and how visible they would be to the average traveler. Today, dogs are used sparely at most major airports, where they are generally called in to clear aircraft or parts of terminals only when a bomb threat has been made.
Under the proposal, the dogs could make regular patrols in passenger terminals, or might be stationed out of public view and sniff luggage before it is loaded on planes, officials said.
The start-up plan, estimated to cost $7 million to $10 million, would significantly expand ATF's canine explosives detection program in Front Royal, Va. ATF has trained more than 100 Labrador retrievers for Israel, Egypt, Greece and four other countries.
The ATF proposal stems in part from congressional concerns about airport security after an explosion brought down TWA Flight 800, killing 230 people, July 17. A terrorist's bomb is considered among the primary possible causes of the crash.
Terrorism legislation overwhelmingly approved by the House, 389-22, and sent to the Senate on Aug. 2 includes a provision that calls for airport administrators to ``use dogs or other appropriate animals to supplement existing equipment for screening passengers and cargo for plastic explosives and other devices or materials which may be used in aircraft piracy.''
In addition, the House has approved an appropriations bill for an ATF-Federal Aviation Administration pilot program for using bomb-sniffing canines that seeks to combine the expertise of both agencies.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB