Airports shaky on deadline DALLAS (AP) =97 With the security deadline nearing to check all airport=20 luggage, officials at the federal Transportation Security Administration=20 remain determined to succeed but can't guarantee a smooth transition by=20 Dec. 31. At Dallas/Fort Worth International, where executives have led a=20 movement since April for a one-year delay on the deadline, expectations are= =20 gloomy for travel on New Year's Eve and beyond. "We should not kid=20 ourselves as a traveling public that any major airport will be able to meet= =20 this deadline," Kevin Cox, DFW Airport's senior executive vice president,=20 told The Dallas Morning News for its Monday editions. The problem lies with= =20 a shortage of federal security personnel and finite resources at an agency= =20 that didn't exist a year ago, coupled with the stringent requirement to=20 screen all checked bags. "If the TSA elects to deploy some interim solution without sufficient=20 manpower, machines and time to deploy and construct the corresponding=20 infrastructure, the end result will be unacceptable long lines to the=20 traveling public," Cox said. "More importantly, implementing a plan that=20 results in these types of delays simply replaces one security risk with=20 another." Mike McCarron, assistant director for San Francisco International Airport,= =20 said officials there also are skeptical about meeting the deadline. "It=20 remains to be seen," he said. But while executives at Los Angeles=20 International concede there may be initial inconvenience, they do not=20 foresee the two- to three-hour waits predicted by DFW and other major=20 airports to screen an estimated 155,000 bags a day that come through LAX.=20 In comparison, DFW expects to screen about 55,000 bags a day. "We believe=20 we have sound plans in place ... to screen 100 percent of checked baggage,"= =20 said Lydia Hennard, director of Los Angeles International. Instead of=20 joining DFW Airport and its alliance of 133 airports lobbying lawmakers for= =20 a delay, Los Angeles moved forward with interim plans to use what staffing,= =20 money and personnel the transportation agency made available. DFW Airport expects to have 27 EDS machines by the end of the year and an=20 undisclosed number of trace devices. Cox has said at least 40 EDS machines= =20 are needed along with a minimum of 1,200 baggage screeners to operate them. "As of this week we have 100," he said of the screeners. The TSA has=20 ordered about 1,050 EDS machines and more than 4,200 trace devices for use= =20 among airports. Some airports may also use hand searches or bomb-sniffing=20 dogs to help screen luggage. With nine weeks to go, the transportation=20 security agency has only 9,000 baggage screeners trained and available to=20 operate those machines. The agency is limited by its budget to 44,000 total= =20 screeners, and the majority are already trained to work passenger= checkpoints. DFW Airport has spent $3.1 million on a two-volume study to determine how=20 many EDS machines it would need and the costs for engineering and=20 construction work to accommodate them. Officials declined to release the=20 study after consulting with its attorneys and the TSA, which determined=20 that doing so would violate national security. Most of DFW Airport's=20 machinery would be out of public view, incorporated into the baggage=20 conveyor belt system that winds behind the ticket counter and ferries=20 luggage to an enclosed area behind the terminals. There, federal screeners= =20 will use the EDS machines to clear luggage before airline baggage handlers= =20 place it on trucks to take to the departing planes. The TSA's chief,=20 retired Coast Guard Adm. James Loy, has said some waivers on the Dec. 31=20 deadline may have to be given to some airports. But he has said publicly=20 he's opposed to a one-year extension for all airports because he believes=20 90 percent of them will meet the deadline. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************