jay gw
19th April 2005, 02:19 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal airport passenger and baggage screeners have shown virtually no improvement over the past year and the task should be returned to private hands, an influential congressional Republican said on Tuesday.
"Three and a half years after those horrific terrorist attacks, there is still a vital need for immediate aviation security improvements," said Rep. John Mica of Florida, chairman of the House of Representatives aviation subcommittee.
At a news conference, Mica said reports by the Homeland Security Department inspector general and the Government Accountability Office had highlighted poor performance by screeners. He said he would ask the Bush administration to hand the function back to the private sector.
Many details of the two reports are classified but Mica described a system -- which he helped create even though he opposed it -- that is inefficient and struggling despite a $20 billion investment to beef up aviation security at 429 commercial airports with nearly 50,000 screeners.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8229790&src=rss/topNews
"Three and a half years after those horrific terrorist attacks, there is still a vital need for immediate aviation security improvements," said Rep. John Mica of Florida, chairman of the House of Representatives aviation subcommittee.
At a news conference, Mica said reports by the Homeland Security Department inspector general and the Government Accountability Office had highlighted poor performance by screeners. He said he would ask the Bush administration to hand the function back to the private sector.
Many details of the two reports are classified but Mica described a system -- which he helped create even though he opposed it -- that is inefficient and struggling despite a $20 billion investment to beef up aviation security at 429 commercial airports with nearly 50,000 screeners.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8229790&src=rss/topNews