U.S. Officials Eye Ways to Increase Airport Security

U.S. authorities are considering ways to tighten security in public areas at U.S. airports after a deadly attack in Moscow, Russia, last month, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), said February 10. A suicide bomber last month killed 36 people and injured more than 100 after detonating the device in the international arrivals hall of Moscows busy Domodedovo airport, sending U.S. airport officials scrambling to address the security gap. The ideas included checkpoints before vehicles are allowed to pull up to the airport terminals, small security teams patrolling the grounds and using officers who are trained to detect unusual behavior, the TSA head told a House of Representatives’ subcommittee on transportation security. U.S. authorities have ramped up security for air travelers, luggage and cargo in the wake of several attempts by al Qaeda militants to attack the United States, adding full-body scanners and requiring more screening for cargo. There also is a concern about tarmac security after a boy was able to sneak onto a tarmac and stow away inside a passenger jet. The Homeland Security Secretary says, Clearly if somebody, a 16-year-old, is able to circumvent TSA standards and requirements and get into the wheel well of a plane, there has been a breakdown, she said at a congressional hearing February 9. The Secretary was referring to the boy, whose body was found in Milton, Massachusetts, November 15 after he sneaked onto North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport tarmac and climbed into the wheel well of a US Airways jet bound for Boston’s Logan Airport. The National Counter-terrorism Center Director said he will work with the Homeland Security Secretary to determine if the United States had broader tarmac-security problems. TSA is investigating the incident.