Bush: Use Guard to Protect Airports(Federalizing Airport Security)

Yahoo ^ | 9/27/2001 | SCOTT LINDLAW

[Solson]

Thursday September 27 11:04 AM ET Bush: Use Guard to Protect Airports

Bush: Use Guard to Protect Airports

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - President Bush urged governors Thursday to call up National Guard units to protect U.S. airports while he implements a long-term plan to secure airlines from terrorist attack. The package includes putting the federal government in charge of airport security.

Hoping to reassure jittery travelers, Bush also proposed spending $500 million on aircraft modifications that would deny or delay access to cockpits.

Terrorists hijacked four airplanes Sept. 11, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon outside Washington. A fourth crashed in Pennsylvania, apparently after passengers struggled with the hijackers. U.S. air travel has dropped sharply since the attacks.

The White House released an outline of Bush's air-security plan shortly before the president left for Chicago, where he was discussing the proposals with airline workers.

Hundreds of workers gathered outside an airport hangar to greet the president. Two jets were parked nose-to-nose at the event - one each from United Airlines and American Airlines, the carriers hijacked Sept. 11.

For the second time this year, Bush was having lunch here with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and brother of Al Gore's campaign chairman last year.

Bush said Wednesday he was offering the ``confidence-boosting measures and some concrete proposals'' to ``convince the American public it is safe to fly.''

``One of my concerns is that this terrible incident has convinced many Americans to stay at home,'' Bush said. ``And one of the keys to economic recovery is going to be the vitality of the airline industry.''

Bush's plan includes:

-Expanding the use of federal air marshals aboard commercial airliners. ``The requirements and qualifications of federal air marshals are among the most stringent of any U.S. federal law enforcement agency,'' the White House statement said.

-Spending $500 million on plan modifications, including efforts to restrict the opening of cockpit doors during flights, fortify cockpit doors to deny access from the cabin, alert the cockpit crew to activity in the cabin and ensure continuous operation of the aircraft transponder in the event of an emergency. The transponder allows air controllers to track a plane.

-Putting the federal government in charge of airport security and screening, including the purchase and maintenance of all equipment. The government would supervise passenger and baggage security and perform background checks on security personnel. Uniformed federal workers would manage all operations; federal and nonfederal workers would share the security work.

``Fully implementing the extensive security proposal may take four to six months,'' the White House statement said. ``During that time, the president will help ensure that every airport has a strong security presence by asking the governors of the 50 states to call up the National Guard - at the federal government's expense - to augment existing security staff at every commercial airport nationwide.''

Bush's trip to Chicago was the second time he has traveled on Air Force One since the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks on New York and Washington that left nearly 7,000 dead or missing.

White House officials said the administration has several other options under consideration, including installing cameras to monitor jetliner cabins. Bush also hopes to reopen Reagan National Airport outside Washington, the only airport still closed due to the Sept. 11 attacks, but is not yet convinced that flying there would be safe, aides said. He is examining options that could lead to the reopening of the airport.

Bush's plan does not include arming pilots, action requested by the pilots themselves. ``There may be better ways to do it than that, but I'm open for any suggestion,'' Bush said Wednesday, as aides privately confirmed that he is cool to the idea.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta boarded a commercial flight Thursday at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to demonstrate his confidence in the air system. He was bound for Chicago to join Bush, accompanied by Jane Garvey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mineta waited in a long line at a BWI security checkpoint. He placed a leather bag on a scanner's conveyor belt, took out his keys and walked through the metal detector. It beeped, prompting a security guard to give Mineta a thorough sweep with a hand-held detector before allowing him onto Concourse A.

Mineta called the system safe, secure and stable.

Bush's father, the nation's 41st president, planned a news conference at Logan Airport in Boston to reassure Americans before flying from Boston to Houston.

The White House is also eager to convince the public that life is returning to normal, and getting Americans back onto airplanes is part of the effort.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the number of commercial flights each day had returned to near normal, now at about 5,500, compared with the maximum before the attacks of 6,500.

However, relatively few people are on those flights. Delta Air Lines, for example, says its planes typically are only 35 percent filled.

[Lady In Blue]

The Battle Hymn of The Republicis an absolutely great and inspiring hymn! I just love it! I can't think of a better song to have been song.

[VietVet]

I would like to raise a completely different question, one which does not seem to have occured to any of the prior posters:

Where are all these National Guardsmen for airport security going to come from?

In my state, the Guard was *already* scheduled to be called up, about 6000 out of 8000 of them, for duty in Bosnia and Kuwait, in October. That doesn't leave a lot of them at home for airport security, not to mention the possible need for water supply security, bridge and tunnel security, disaster relief services, and civil disturbance duty (what with all the talk about "peace demonstrations").

[Aurelius]

I thoroughly agree it is beautiful and moving. Unfortunately it served an ignoble cause, and that cannot and should not be forgatten.

[Aurelius]

We can be one country again when it is generally recognized and acknowledged that in 1861 the Lincoln administration acted illegitimately when it agressed against the Confederacy to reverse the legitimate seccession of the seven states of the deep south. Until that happens, the "United States" is based on a lie and there are many in the south who will not forget. Playing the BHOR, beautiful and inspiring though it might be if it had not served such an ignoble cause, only pours salt in the wound.

[sinkspur]

Until that happens, the "United States" is based on a lie and there are many in the south who will not forget. Playing the BHOR, beautiful and inspiring though it might be if it had not served such an ignoble cause, only pours salt in the wound.

You remind me of one of my college profs, Dr. Melvin Bradford, who always thought the South would rise again.

Nursing a grudge over slavery is a miserable way to go the grave.

[Aurelius]

You know very well it has nothing to do with slavery. It is disingenuous of you to pretend that it does, and you know it. Slavery was an evil from which the entire country profited and for which the entire country was guilty. Because the actual practice of slavery was limited to the southern states and even though seccession may have to some degree been motivated by the (erroneously) perceived threat to the continuation of slavery from Lincoln's election, the Northern suppression of seccession was still illegitimate. Acknowledgement of that fact could be at least a beginning of healing of the horrible fissure in the country that Lincoln created. But as long as the lie (legitimacy of the war of aggression) persists, there can be no final healing.

[sinkspur]

But as long as the lie (legitimacy of the war of aggression) persists, there can be no final healing.

Well, don't hold your breath.

Do you hold a grudge against your wife like this?

Sheesh!!!

[ReaganCowboy]

These Guardsmen are serving in a title 32 status, which means that they are under the command and control of the governor. Posse Comitatus most certainly applies -- but not to state military forces working under state control. You ought to be glad that this use of National Guard is being paid for by the federal government, in order to give a somewhat uniform federal program.

I repeat, these Guardsmen are working in a title 32 status, paid for by the fed but most assuredly under the command and control of the governor. There is no violation of posse comitatus.

[Aurelius]

It is damaging to the whoie country to hold onto a lie, but it is not the south that holds onto the lie, except maybe for a few traitorous yankee arse-kissers, or some of our resident yankee carpet-baggers. The south is not the guilty party in this. If truth is valued. then the truth should be exposed. You again indulge in ad hominem in suggesting that I hold a grudge. I don't hold a grudge, I was pointing out the damage that your side does to itself by its denial of the truth.

[sinkspur]

I was pointing out the damage that your side does to itself by its denial of the truth.

I don't have a "side."

I'm just amazed that you're nursing anger over something that's been over for 150 years.

As I said, you better reconcile this in your own head, because nobody's going to apologize for anything.

BTW, I'm from Texas, and have lived in the "south" my entire life.

[Torie]

I'm from Texas, and have lived in the "south" my entire life.

I know you are old enough to remember that LBJ told us that Texas was a Western state, not a Southern state. LOL. Of course LBJ was the most pathelogical liar there was that ever held the office of POTUS until he recently slipped into the number 2 spot. Cheers.

[Aurelius]

I am not nursing anger, I have nothing to reconcile "in my head" and I am not a southerner. You are wrong on every count. I am trying to point out that old lies should be exposed as lies and put behind us. That is what you seem to want to resist, as a Texan I can't understand why you would.

[CJinVA]

The problem is that the FAA thinks that their mission is to ensure "the bottom line" for the airlines. Profit/Loss should not be part of the security equation.

(or is it assure? I always get those two mixed up)