[iwar] [fc:Oops....Man.Boards.Plane.With.Pistol]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-25 18:25:26


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Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 18:25:26 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Oops....Man.Boards.Plane.With.Pistol]
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Oops... Man Boards Plane With Pistol

By Greg Schneider Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 25,
2001; Page A07 

A Southwest Airlines passenger flying Tuesday from New Orleans to
Phoenix opened his briefcase and realized that he had something he
shouldn't have had: a loaded gun. 

Officials said the man alerted the flight crew and he was not charged
with a crime, but the incident illustrates that airport security remains
unreliable. 

"Now, after all the flurry of activity of ramping up the sky marshals . 
.  .  [and] ramping up the awareness and intensity of security at the
airport checkpoints, you still have a gun getting through," said Rep. 
James L.  Oberstar of Minnesota, the senior Democrat on the House
Transportation Committee and sponsor of airport-security legislation. 
"This just underscores the urgency of moving quickly."

House Republicans have delayed a vote on airport-security legislation to
build support for their version, which differs from a measure backed by
House Democrats and approved by the Senate.  House Republican leaders
said yesterday that they will bring up the bill next Wednesday. 

In Tuesday's incident, the passenger -- a 68-year-old man whom
authorities declined to identify -- put his briefcase through a security
checkpoint X-ray machine at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International
Airport without setting off alarms. 

Midway to Phoenix, the man opened the briefcase to look for something
and found the gun, an old derringer that had been given to him by his
father, said Ed Hall, spokesman for the FBI in Phoenix. 

The man had thought the gun was lost and did not realize it was in his
briefcase, Hall said.  When he saw it, the man summoned a flight
attendant and said, "I've got a situation here.  I don't know what to
do.  I know what I did was wrong," according to Hall. 

The flight attendant locked the briefcase in the cockpit with the
captain, who radioed ahead and alerted officials at the Phoenix airport. 
FBI agents met the man when the plane landed. 

They interviewed him, checked his background for any criminal record and
verified his story with his brother, who was traveling with him, Hall
said.  Satisfied that the man had made an honest mistake, the agents
allowed him to buy a lockbox at the airport, put the gun in it and check
it into the cargo hold for a flight to his destination, San Diego, Hall
said. 

A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines, which contracts with International
Total Services Inc.  for security at the New Orleans airport concourse,
said an initial investigation put the blame on a single employee for
missing the gun as it went through the checkpoint.  ITS fired that
employee, said Beth Harbin, the Southwest spokeswoman. 

"I feel pretty satisfied they've taken care of it to our needs," Harbin
said. 

No one from ITS, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on
Sept.  13, returned a phone call seeking comment. 

Federal Aviation Administration investigators are still looking into the
incident, as are authorities from the New Orleans airport, the airline
and local law enforcement, FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said. 

It was not the first such case since terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.  At Atlanta's Hartfield Airport late last
month, a 63-year-old man made it through a checkpoint with a .22-caliber
pistol in his pocket.  He realized his error before boarding and
notified Delta Air Lines officials, who later blamed a faulty metal
detector for letting the weapon get through. 

The FAA inspector general's office said last week that it arrested a man
after he managed to carry a knife in his shoe through a metal detector
at Dulles International Airport without setting it off. 

The Senate has voted unanimously in favor of legislation that would set
up a government workforce of airport security screeners, an approached
favored by House Democrats.  But House Republicans have backed a
different bill, introduced by Rep.  Don Young (R-Alaska), that would
give the president the option of hiring either private contractors or
government employees to screen baggage. 

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday that President Bush
will make a "strong push" for the Young bill. 

Staff writers Juliet Eilperin and Dana Milbank contributed to this
report. 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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