In Aviation Security, ‘Can’t’ Won’t Fly, Nominee Says

President Bush’s nominee to head the new Transportation Security Administration told Congress on Thursday that he will meet lawmakers’ ambitious timetable for overhauling the aviation security system within a year.

“You will not hear me say ‘can’t,’ ” John Magaw told the Senate Commerce Committee during a hearing on his confirmation. “It is not in my vocabulary. And we will make every effort to make sure it doesn’t creep in there.”

Magaw’s statements were the strongest sign yet that the Transportation Department has abandoned its early qualms about the congressional timetable and is pressing ahead, despite airline protests that some security measures will cost more money and create delays. Magaw, a former Secret Service director, is expected to be confirmed before the Senate adjourns for the holidays.

The Bush administration faces a Jan. 18 deadline for an initial system to screen checked bags, which may include a combination of hand searches; screening by X-ray, bomb detection machines or trained dogs; and ensuring that no bags are loaded onto planes unless their owners are also aboard the flight. A permanent system for screening all checked bags with bomb detection machines must be in place by Dec. 31, 2002. While the first deadline now seems within reach, officials acknowledge the second will be difficult to meet.

To underscore the new “can-do” refrain, a senior Transportation Department official gave reporters a progress report Thursday on a range of efforts to improve security in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, in which suicidal hijackers turned commercial airliners into guided missiles.

The official also said the Transportation Department is willing to help current screeners who are otherwise qualified to join the new security organization meet a requirement for U.S. citizenship. At many airports around the country, and particularly in California, legal residents, not citizens, constitute a majority of the workers.

“We know a number of people are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “I have personally spoken to the [immigration] commissioner, and we are looking into this.”

The official also said:

* The government is contracting a talent search firm to help it hire new “federal security directors” at 429 airports with regularly scheduled airline flights. The directors will be the “backbone” of the new system, replacing Federal Aviation Administration managers who have limited authority.

They will have charge over security screeners and other federal agents and will have the power to shut down flight operations if there is a security breach. The ideal candidate would have the qualifications of a police chief. Current FAA security managers are not guaranteed they will get the jobs.

* The federal takeover of airport security screening will be accomplished in stages, beginning early next year and culminating in mid-November, when all screeners must be federal employees. One of the first steps in the transition will come in February, when the government will assume the contracts airlines now hold with private security firms.