ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130033
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
A variety of federal agencies, airlines and airport authorities will be responsible for acting on more than 50 proposals included in the final report, which was delivered to President Clinton at the White House.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it ``will move quickly to implement the recommendations'' of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.
``The world is changing and so must our aviation policies and practices,'' Vice President Al Gore said at the commission's final meeting.
President Clinton pledged to use ``all the tools of modern science'' to make air travel safer. He urged Congress to approve the $100 million in added annual spending for air security recommended by the commission.
While the Flight 800 explosion last July, which killed 230 people, prompted formation of the commission, the report was wide-ranging and did not specifically address that disaster. That crash remains unsolved with investigators considering as possible causes a bomb, mechanical failure and a missile.
Among the commission's proposals are improving the government's inspection program for older airplanes; forming a panel to study whether antimissile technology should be installed on airliners; installing improved ground proximity warning systems to help pilots avoid mountain crashes; requiring that safety seats be used for infants on aircraft, instead of letting them ride on parents' laps; and allowing Customs agents to inspect airmail as it leaves the country as well as incoming mail.
Commission member Kathleen Flynn, who lost a child in the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103, said: ``We have got to do passenger-baggage match, we have got to do passenger profiling, we have got to do explosives detection ... in a comprehensive program.''
Under the commission plan, bag matching would be done for the luggage of any passenger who fits the danger profile, as well as randomly on other passengers, explained commission member Brian Michael Jenkins.
``This has been a contentious area,'' he admitted. ``Our objective is keeping bombs off airplanes.''
While bag matching wouldn't be done for all luggage immediately, Gore said that is the goal.
The plan drew a quick complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union.
``The proposed profiling system is invasive of privacy and likely to be discriminatory,'' said counsel Gregory Nojeim.
Nojeim contended that only full bag matching can prevent a terrorist from checking a bag with a bomb in it and then not boarding the plane. ``The airlines have prevailed on this commission not to go to full luggage match because they don't want to pay for it,'' he said.
The Air Transport Association, the trade group for the major airlines, said ``the coupling of profiling and bag matching appears to be a prudent'' proposal.
The commission plan calls for the FBI, CIA and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to research known terrorists, hijackers and bombers to develop the profiles. These would be most useful if they can be matched against automated passenger information the airlines maintain.
Gore also announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will change its aviation programs to focus on safety research. NASA will devote $500 million over the next five years to this effort, Gore said.
A cost estimate for implementing all of the committee's recommendations was not immediately available.
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