Pre-9/11 rules barred box cutters WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Airlines failed to enforce existing security guidelines= =20 on Sept. 11 that required airport screeners to confiscate box cutters from= =20 passengers, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.=20 Government rules did not specifically bar the objects before last year's=20 the attacks, but the airlines were in charge of security then, with the=20 Federal Aviation Administration overseeing their performance. The airlines= =20 issued a manual in 1994 that listed for screeners items passengers could=20 not carry past airport checkpoints. The AP obtained a copy of the document,= =20 which included box cutters such as those purportedly used by the Sept. 11,= =20 2001, hijackers. "If they knew these were problems, why weren't they more=20 responsible in protecting the public?" asked former FAA security chief=20 Billie Vincent. The Air Transport Association, which represents major=20 airlines, and the Regional Airline Association, the trade group for smaller= =20 carriers, issued the Checkpoint Operations Guide to implement Federal=20 Aviation Administration security regulations. ATA spokesman Michael Wascom said only: "Box cutters were not prohibited by= =20 the FAA on 9-11-01," and refused to comment further. Officials of the=20 regional airlines' group would not comment. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown=20 said keeping box cutters off planes was an industry requirement, not a=20 government order. She said the FAA allowed airline passengers to carry=20 blades less than four inches long before Sept. 11. Government rules now=20 prohibit such items. The manual for security screeners was issued by the=20 airlines' trade groups to comply with FAA regulations and was in effect at= =20 the time of the terror attacks. The document lists box cutters and pepper=20 spray as items not allowed past security checkpoints. Screeners were told=20 to call supervisors if either item were to be found. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said some of the hijackers used box=20 cutters to take over the planes, and the indictment of alleged hijacking=20 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui charged that Mohammed Atta, the leader of= =20 the hijackers, had pepper spray. Dean Headley, associate professor of=20 marketing at Wichita State University and co-author of an annual study on=20 airline quality, said airlines didn't want to invest the time or money=20 before Sept. 11 to check passengers thoroughly. "Security was mostly a=20 nonstarter for most people," he said. "The airlines, knowing it would cost= =20 them a bundle to make a bigger deal out of that, didn't want to spend the=20 money." After the attacks Congress took responsibility for airline security= =20 from the FAA and the airlines and gave it to a new Transportation Security= =20 Administration. The TSA has until Nov. 19 to replace private airport=20 screeners with an all-government work force. Former FAA chief counsel Kenneth Quinn, now a lawyer representing several=20 airport security companies, said that before Sept. 11, the agency, not the= =20 industry, had the ultimate responsibility for what got onto planes.=20 "There's only one way to prohibit items from being carried on board=20 airplanes, and that is through mandatory security directives from the FAA,"= =20 Quinn said. "Relying on trade association advisory materials is an=20 inherently suspect and deficient way to ensure an important safety and=20 security task." Former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary=20 Schiavo, now a lawyer suing United Airlines and American Airlines on behalf= =20 of families of Sept. 11 victims, said the document shows there were=20 regulations in place that might have thwarted the hijackings. "What's=20 disappointing to me is a lot of effort has gone into our government and=20 others bending over backward saying no one did anything wrong, but it's=20 clear they didn't follow the guidelines that were in place at the time,"=20 Schiavo said. Brown said that since the manual was not an FAA document, failure to follow= =20 its procedures did not violate agency regulations. Rep. John Mica, chairman= =20 of the House Transportation subcommittee on aviation, said the FAA should=20 have had more stringent screening standards in place. "The whole security=20 process was in disarray," said Mica, R-Fla. "When you don't have the=20 personnel with any standards, and you don't have FAA adopting specific=20 rules, you have no one to enforce it." 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