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Hillary, Crowley Assail Lifting Ban On Sharp Tools On Aircraft
Clinton (D–New York), in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blasted the TSA proposal as merely a way of bringing dangerous and deadly weapons on board aircraft. Crowley, citing the 9/11 attacks, after which such objects were banned, declared: “TSA should not be making it easier for a terrorist to take over a passenger airplane. On September 11, we witnessed the devastation and death that can be perpetrated on board a plane with commonly used items like box cutters, and TSA wisely took action to ban such sharp objects.
The TSA announced last Friday that the new policy will allow some small tools, such as scissors with blades less than 4 inches long and screwdrivers with blades up to 7 inches, but not box cutters. The old ban will end December 22. The objective of allowing the new list of items that can be carried onto an airplane is part of an effort by safety agents to focus more on finding explosives rather than small pointed tools that do not pose a threat. The TSA also feels that other changes made on aircraft such as hardening cockpit doors and adding armed air marshals have eliminated catastrophic threats. Crowley, who lost a cousin in the World Trade Center attack, said he is introducing legislation to preserve the current ban on knives and other sharp objects that has kept these items off passenger planes since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He said the TSA planned to lift the ban later this month as a way of speeding up security checkpoints at airports. But Crowley, noting “We are no safer today than we were four years ago,” insisted, “There are more effective ways of increasing efficiency without compromising security.” Clinton’s outrage at the TSA’s plans to lift the ban on the sharp objects, was revealed in the New York Post , which said it had obtained a letter sent to Chertoff by the Senator. The newspaper story cited remarks by Homeland Security officials that fortified cockpit doors on commercial aircraft were a safeguard against terrorists gaining entrance to a cockpit and taking control of a plane by brandishing box cutters or scissors. But, Clinton said in her letter to Chertoff, “It is unclear how allowing such previously prohibited, dangerous items on board aircraft will assist the TSA in making the flying more secure.” The former First Lady added that there was no guarantee that those previously banned items could not be used in future attacks. Clinton requested that Chertoff brief lawmakers on what the reasons were for lifting the ban. She also threatened to hold hearings and draft legislation if her concerns about future possible security problems were not addressed. Crowley (D–Queens/ Bronx) said in his statement opposing the lifting of the ban that the Association of Flight Attendants had also objected to the revised provisions. He quoted Patricia Friend, the association’s president as saying, “Under no circumstances should potentially dangerous weapons be allowed on board an aircraft. The devastating effects of 9/11 showed the world how a simple box cutter could become a deadly weapon in the hands of the wrong person. “Flight attendants already have to be extra vigilant these days, and the fact that TSA wants them to contend with these hazardous objects is ridiculous. You cannot take these objects to a sports complex, a museum or a courthouse. You shouldn’t be allowed to bring them on an aircraft, either.”
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