FlyerTalk Forums - Reply from my Senator

Over the last few months I have sent a number of letters to my various elected officials.

To my surprise I received a resposne from Christopher Dodd. Here is the response in its entirety.

The sad thing is that it did not address my specific questions and concerns. This letter seems to be alot of political back talk and grandstanding.

Dear Mr. xxxxx:

Thank you for contacting me regarding aviation security. I
appreciate the benefit of your views on this very important
matter and I apologize for the delay in my response.
I share your concerns. As you may know, on November 19,
2001, President Bush signed into law the Aviation and
Transportation Security Act (Public Law 107-71). This
legislation requires that the federal government hire, for at
least three years, 28,000 employees to screen travelers and
baggage at the nation's airports, that the people who screen
passengers and baggage are United States citizens, and that a
federal security director be placed at every airport.
Furthermore, the law requires all airlines to firmly secure the
door to every aircraft cockpit and authorizes increased
deployment of air marshals on all
U.S. commercial air passenger flights and all international
flights on U.S. carriers.

Since enactment of the Aviation and Transportation Security
Act (ATSA), a number of significant security changes have taken
place at airports across the country. These changes are taking
place at varying paces among airports and amidst regular airline
schedules. You may be interested to know that Congress passed
the Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 omnibus appropriation authorizing the
Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to receive $5.2 billion.
Funding is included in the TSA budget to accelerate the
deployment of new explosive detection technology, which will help
ensure that all aircraft baggage is safe. President Bush signed
this appropriations legislation into law on February 20, 2003.

With regard to in-flight security, President Bush recently
signed legislation to create a "Federal Flight Deck Officer
Program." Under the Flight Deck initiative, pilots are
authorized to carry firearms and to use force, including lethal
force, to defend the cockpit from would-be hijackers. The Flight
Deck initiative also requires the TSA Secretary to deputize
pilots, train flight attendants in self-defense, and improve the
communication technology within airplanes to better protect
passengers by facilitating better communication between the
members of a flight crew.

I voted in favor of the amendment to arm pilots because I
believe that it will provide a measure of improved security. I
am particularly hopeful that training and improved communication
technologies will help pilots and flight crews work in tandem so
that security problems can be addressed effectively with a
minimum of disruption.

In the coming months, you may be assured that I will
continue to monitor the implementation of new airport and airline
security procedures. It is my hope that the Administration will
do all that is necessary to see that the goals of the ATSA are
met in full.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please
do not hesitate to contact me again if I can further assist you
in any way.

Sincerely,

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD
United States Senator