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Government sets anti-terror measures for air cargo

By Leslie Miller, Associated Press Writer | May 17, 2006

WASHINGTON --The government Wednesday announced new security requirements for air cargo that include criminal background checks for more than 100,000 airline and freight workers and screeners to check packages delivered to airport ticket counters.


The Transportation Security Administration said it will also use more bomb-sniffing dogs to screen freight that's shipped by plane and that it will soon finish hiring 300 new air cargo inspectors, which Congress included in the agency's budget this year.

"It's a lot about background checks and security plans," said TSA chief Kip Hawley.

Hawley said he delayed issuing the rule, which was due in August 2005, shortly after he was sworn in. The original proposal excluded from the background check requirement some people who handle freight, he said.

"I wanted to be sure we covered the entire supply chain," Hawley said.

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Some lawmakers have criticized the Bush administration for screening airline passengers and their luggage but not inspecting the cargo that's carried on the same plane.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said billions of pounds of air cargo is loaded onto passenger planes every year without being scanned at all.

"The Bush administration missed an important opportunity to close a major homeland security loophole today when it announced a final air cargo rule that fails to require inspection of 100 percent of the cargo carried aboard passenger planes," Markey said.

Hawley said focusing on packages misses the vulnerability, because a terrorist who works at an airport could slip bombs into the cargo hold after each package has been inspected.

The TSA's long-awaited plan -- it was originally proposed in November 2004 -- includes new regulations for restricting access to sections of airports used for loading and unloading cargo.

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