Airline Security Still Lax, GAO Charges

A year after a terrorist bomb destroyed Pan American Airways Flight 103, there are still “fundamental deficiencies” in security in U.S. airline operations around the world, a General Accounting Office report charged Monday.

The report, prepared for a presidential commission investigating aviation response to the Pan Am disaster that killed 270 people, declared that the Federal Aviation Administration has failed to set up adequate training standards to improve security at foreign airports where U.S. airlines are responsible for security.

“In our opinion, effective implementation of security program measures is dependent on adequate guidance and training,” said Kenneth Mead, GAO director for transportation issues, in testimony before the presidential commission Monday. “The FAA does not have adequate quality assurance to identify basic deficiencies in its own plan.”

Mead cited numerous breakdowns in screening procedures, airport security controls and security inspections as proof that the FAA does not keep close enough tabs on security at foreign airports.

In one U.S. airline inspection at a major foreign airport, personnel did not properly screen more than 30 passengers boarding a flight. In another inspection, a security employee did not properly search several questionable bags.

Instead of performing a physical search of a bag in which an X-ray device had detected an electronic device with wires attached, the screener merely relied on the passenger’s assertion regarding the contents of the bag.

“What we have here is an example of incredible incompetence,” said Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.), a commission member. “The FAA and the present system have flunked when it comes to providing basic security systems that anyone can have confidence in. Perhaps the FAA is too much in the business of promoting aviation to be in charge of security measures as well.”

The report recommended that the FAA develop training requirements that address the increased screening required of U.S. carriers at several high-risk foreign airports, including instruction in the operation of devices that can detect plastic explosives in passenger luggage.

At foreign airports, general security is the responsibility of the host government. Currently, each U.S. airline develops its own training program for additional screening at these airports. That results in a variety of approaches, some more effective than others, the report said.

“It’s somewhat misleading to say we don’t have security standards,” Monte Belcher, associate administrator for aviation standards at the FAA, said at the hearing. “We are doing the best we can. We are doing well. . . . (But) there’s no question we need additional resource capability in Europe.”