AIRLINES CONCERNED ABOUT SECURITY STEPS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710038-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: July 11, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710038-9
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WASHINGTON POST
11 July 1985
Airlines Concerned AbouTS~~~Ht
Steps
By Douglas B. Feaver
and George Lardner Jr.
wwi 40- Poe suet wrieen
Top airline executives met with
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth
Hanford Dole yesterday to discuss
their concerns about Dole's pro-
gram to strengthen airport and air-
line security after the recent Trans
World Airlines hijacking and several
bombings, industry and government
sources said.
Although the airlines have said
they support increased security
measures, industry officials have
complained privately that some
measures are too sweeping and
were adopted by the department
and its Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration without adequate consulta-
tion.
The bulk of the security program
was outlined by Dole in a speech
June 27 at the U.N. International
Civil Aviation organization meeting
in Montreal. Since then, FAA spe-
cialists and airline security direc-
tors have met many times to devel-
op the program.
"All through these discussions
there has been some back and forth
about whether you're talking about
[imposing intensive security on) se-
lected flights or on every flight," an
industry source said. "We think se-
curity is enhanced when there is a
focus on selection."
On Tuesday, the FAA issued new
orders that airlines must incorpor-
ate into security programs. Includ-
ed is a list of international airports
at which extra attentiveness is re-
quired, either because airport se-
curity is lax or the airport is located
where terrorists can be expected to
operate.
The list is being withheld from
the public, but a source familiar
with it said "most major internation-
al airports are included for one rea-
son or another on the theory that,
even with the best security in ' the
world, you never know when or
where a terrorist is going to strike."
A senior Transportation Depart-
ment official said no airport on the
list is regarded as presenting a se-
rious enough security risk to war-
rant a travelers' advisory, such as
the State Department has issued
for the Athens airport, from which
the hijacked TWA flight originated.
FAA security s cialists, acting
on orders from President a an,
have been inspecting international
airports served by U.S. carriers to
supplement information already
known and coordinate it with U.S.
intelligence estimates on ffi-e7We--
lihood of terrorist activity.
Dole's program consists of in-
creased security training for airline
employes; an increase in the num-
ber of federal sky marshals; elim-
ination of curbside baggage check-
in for international flights; a rule
that only ticketed passengers can
check bags; a 24-hour hold on car-
go, freight and mail not X-rayed or
physically searched; an increase in
physical inspection of carry-on bag-
gage after it has been X-rayed, and
designation of an airline employe as
security coordinator for every
flight.
"If you require a passenger-bag
match or physical opening or X-ray
of every single piece of luggage,
then the airlines care a lot about
how many planes they have to do
that for, in how many cities and for
how long," the senior official said.
The airlines have not complained
about cost, according to govern-
ment sources, although intensive
strengthening of security can cost
millions of dollars. Concern has
been expressed that long security
delays will alienate passengers.
The airlines have been particu-
lary concerned about the security
coordinator's role and how that per-
son would relate to. the pilot in com-
mand. "We made it very clear that
you can have a security coordinator
who is the pilot, the chief flight at-
tendant or whoever the airlines
want," the senior official said.
Airline officials attending the
meeting included Richard J. Ferris.
chairman and chief executive officer
of United Airlines; Edwin I.
Colodny, chairman and chief exec-
utive officer of USAir, and execu-
tives from TWA, Pan American
World Airways, Delta, Eastern and
Midway airlines.
In a related development, two
influential Texas congressional
Democrats introduced legislation
that would give the Federal Bureau
of Investigation $22 million more to
counter domestic terrorism.
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) and
House Majority Leader James C.
Wright Jr. (D-Tex.) said the FBI's
counterterrorism budget has been
frozen since last year at just under
$40 million and "has not even kept
up with inflation."
"It's one thing to declare war ver-
bally on the terrorists," Wright said
in a reference to Reagan's denun-
ciations of the TWA hijacking and
other terrorist incidents. "It's an-
other thing to supply the ammuni-
tion and the army to fight the war."
Bentsen said the United States is
fortunate because few terrorist in-
cidents have occurred within its
borders but added, "We're an open
target ...."
He cited as an ominous sign "re-
ports that agents answerable to the
Ayatollah [Ruhollah) Khomeini are
hidden in place in the United States,
prepared to conduct terrorist ac-
tions whenever they receive word
from Iran."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710038-9