by Jonathan D. Salant, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Arming pilots will not be one of the steps taken by the Transportation Department to upgrade airline security, Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said.
“I don’t feel we should have lethal weapons in the cockpit,” Mineta said Monday after announcing the new Transportation Security Administration would begin recruiting, hiring and training more than 30,000 employees to screen passengers and luggage at airports.
Mineta, who had generally been cool to the idea of arming pilots, did not rule out allowing non-lethal weapons, such as stun guns. That decision is up to the new undersecretary for transportation security, John Magaw, who gave no indication Monday when he would rule.
Besides Mineta, the nation’s homeland security director, Tom Ridge, said he opposed arming pilots.
“I don’t think we want to equip our pilots with firearms,” Ridge told USA Today. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.” Ridge’s opposition to arming pilots was confirmed by his office Monday.
Mineta noted that cockpit doors have been strengthened since Sept. 11 so hijackers cannot break through. As a result, pilots do not need guns, he said.
“To me, cockpit security is very important,” Mineta said. “The cockpit has to be secured.”
Many pilots disagree. They say pilots need guns to stop hijackers from breaking into the cockpit and commandeering an airplane, as was done on Sept. 11.
The Air Line Pilots Association has filed a petition with the Transportation Department, formally asking for a rule allowing pilots to have firearms in the cockpit.
“A large majority of airline pilots and the American public view firearms in the cockpit as a necessary deterrent to terrorism,” pilots union president Duane Woerth said Monday.
The union’s proposal would allow pilots to carry guns after receiving training similar to federal law enforcement officers. The pilots also would have to undergo background checks. The program would be voluntary.
Among the airlines that have expressed interest recently in arming pilots with stun guns is Indianapolis-based American Trans Air, the nation’s 10th largest carrier and the largest North American operator of commercial and military charters.
The Transportation Department has received more than 7,400 public comments on arming pilots.
Meanwhile, the department moved ahead on hiring the federal security work force that will replace the private employees now staffing airport checkpoints.
The federal screeners will be paid between $23,600 and $40,700. Magaw said he has not decided whether the federal screeners will be allowed to unionize. He said they will have limited whistle-blower protection if they come forward with complaints.
To meet a Dec. 31 timetable for screening all checked bags with explosive detection machines, the TSA is asking other companies to also build the equipment because the two firms that now produce the machines can’t construct them fast enough, Magaw said.