Small Scissors in Your Carry-On? Welcome Aboard

Source: New York Times
Author: Eric Lipton

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 - The Transportation Security Administration is making some of the most significant changes in the screening of airline passengers since procedures were revamped after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The changes include a new type of random search, a revision of the pat-down process and the end of a ban on small scissors and certain other sharp tools in carry-on luggage.

The changes include a new type of random search, a revision of the pat-down process and the end of a ban on small scissors and certain other sharp tools in carry-on luggage.

The goal of the changes, which will be announced Friday and go into effect on Dec. 20, is to try to disrupt the now-familiar routine associated with security screening, a routine that federal officials fear would-be terrorists may have studied to figure out ways to circumvent it.

"We don't want the predictability of the system to be used against us," said Yolanda L. Clark, a security agency spokeswoman. "So we are introducing an element of randomness that makes it more difficult to manipulate."

Ms. Clark and other officials from the Department of Homeland Security declined to discuss the changes, saying they would be unveiled in a speech by Kip Hawley, the assistant secretary for homeland security who oversees the security agency. A five-page summary of the new policies was obtained Wednesday by The New York Times.

The summary document says the elimination of the ban on metal scissors with a blade of four inches or less and tools of seven inches or less - including screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers - is intended to give airport screeners more time to do new types of random searches.

Passengers are now typically subject to a more intensive, so-called secondary search only if their names match a listing of suspected terrorists or because of anomalies like a last-minute ticket purchase or a one-way trip with no baggage.

The new strategy, which has been tested in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Orange County, Calif., will mean that a certain number of passengers, even if they are not identified by these computerized checks, will be pulled aside and subject to an added search lasting about two minutes. Officials said passengers would be selected randomly, without regard to ethnicity or nationality.

What happens next will vary. One day at a certain airport, carry-on bags might be physically searched. On the same day at a different airport, those subject to the random search might have their shoes screened for explosives or be checked with a hand-held metal detector. "By design, a traveler will not experience the same search every time he or she flies," the summary said. "The searches will add an element of unpredictability to the screening process that will be easy for passengers to navigate but difficult for terrorists to manipulate."

The new policy will also change the way pat-down searches are done to check for explosive devices. Screeners will now search the upper and lower torso, the entire arm and legs from the mid-thigh down to the ankle and the back and abdomen, significantly expanding the area checked.

Currently, only the upper torso is checked. Under the revised policy, screeners will still have the option of skipping pat-downs in certain areas "if it is clear there is no threat," like when a person is wearing tight clothing making it obvious that there is nothing hidden. But the default position will be to do the more comprehensive search, in part because of fear that a passenger could be carrying plastic explosives that might not set off a handheld metal detector.

These new procedures will go into effect at the same time as the security agency continues to expand other measures, like using more bomb sniffing dog teams and installing high-tech devices that blow a short burst of air on passengers to detect traces of explosives. Forty-three of these devices, known as explosive trace portals, have been installed at 22 of the nation's largest airports.

This new category of random checks and the more comprehensive pat-downs can be done without causing significant delays, officials said, because of the enormous amount of time that will be saved because screeners no longer have to confiscate small scissors or tools, a policy change first reported in The Washington Post. These kinds of sharp instruments are now found in about one in four carry-on bags.

All knives will still be prohibited, as well as drills, hammers, saws and crowbars, according to the summary document.

The ban on scissors and other small tools, first imposed after the 2001 hijackers used box cutters to seize four planes, can be lifted, these officials said, because airplane cockpit doors are now more secure, thousands of pilots are now authorized to carry handguns and more federal air marshals now fly on planes.

The changes drew a mixed reaction Wednesday, with some security experts and members of Congress praising them, while others said they were counterproductive.

Representative John L. Mica, a Florida Republican who is chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees aviation security, said the changes were long overdue.

"The threat today is not someone taking over an aircraft with scissors or a knife," Mr. Mica said.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said the airline industry also supported the changes.

But Jon Adler, executive vice president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents federal air marshals, said that allowing scissors and small tools on planes was a mistake.

"These items in the wrong hands can become dangerous instruments that can ultimately threaten both air marshals' and travelers' safety," Mr. Adler said.