ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100075
SECTION: NATL/INLT PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Pledging to improve air travelers' protection from terrorism, President Clinton signed stricter airline safety legislation Wednesday.
The $19 billion law calls for upgrading bomb-detecting luggage scanners at major airports, requires background and fingerprint checks for workers with access to airport security areas, hikes the number of FBI agents assigned to counterterrorism and increases mail and international air cargo inspections.
``Because of these improvements, Americans will not only feel safer, they will be safer,'' said Clinton, who was surrounded at the signing ceremony by people who had lost family members in air disasters. ``We cannot make the world risk-free, but we can reduce the risks we face.''
The president said the law, which also lets the government produce computerized passenger profiles alerting officials to possible security risks, is ``sending the message to terrorists that they will pay the full price for their deeds.''
Separately, the new law bars unlicensed pilots from attempting aeronautical competitions or feats, a response to the death of 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff of Pescadero, Calif., who crashed April 11 while trying to become the youngest pilot to fly across the country.
It also gives the National Transportation Safety Board the duty of notifying and assisting families after a plane crash, a task previously left to the airlines.
That provision was one of several recommendations made by the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, which Clinton created in July after the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB