Although crackdowns on aviation security have made travel noticeably safer since Sept. 11, it should ease all wary flyers’ minds to know the federal government is now in charge of protecting the skies via the nation’s airport terminals.
The U.S. government formally took responsibility Sunday for security at the nation’s airports. The takeover comes as one of several legislative measures passed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
U.S. transportation security officials said passengers shouldn’t notice immediate changes. Notably, passengers who are asked to remove shoes will be offered a chair and shoehorn and travelers who are inspected with hand-held wands will be allowed to see their valuables in front of them.
By Nov. 19, all security screeners are supposed to be federal employees and, by next year, all checked bags will have to be cleared by explosives detection equipment.
Although the government now controls aviation security, airline representatives will remain on-hand at security checkpoints and will report directly to federal officials rather than carriers.
Likewise, many airport security companies will stay in place and be required to report to the government.
The federal takeover of aviation security is a welcome change in the way we protect U.S. airspace for safe commercial travel.
Streamlined standards will help close potentially fatal loopholes that allow passengers to be cleared for travel at one airport who would not have boarded a plane so easily from a terminal on the other side of the country.
In light of Sept. 11, we have seen the various ways our security measures lack when it comes to protecting our skies. Those events help show the public just how underpaid, undertrained, unarmed, unsupervised and disrespected the nation’s airport screeners really are.
Air travel will not and should not ever be as easy and carefree as it once was.
But Americans should remember the chance to fly on commercial aircraft is a consumer privilege and not a constitutional right. Therefore we should take ease in knowing inconvenient delays can help protect the safety of an entire country.
