Transport won't release airport security results ..Senate blasts move as 'unreasonable secrecy' Jim Bronskill The Ottawa Citizen Wednesday, February 05, 2003 The Transport Department is refusing to release the results of recent airport security tests despite a Senate committee report that blasted the government for "unreasonable secrecy" about safety problems at air terminals. Department inspectors regularly test the effectiveness of security at airports across the country by trying to slip materials past staff responsible for searching passengers and carry-on items. For years, the data collected were released to the media either informally or under the Access to Information Act. In various exercises staff succeed in sneaking items including handguns, knives and fake bombs by security personnel. Failure rates in the tests ranged from six to 18 per cent. But the department closed the lid on such information after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate committee on national security and defence, said concealing the test data from the public could have dangerous consequences for Canadian travellers. "I think it hides incompetence, it hides inefficiencies and I think it allows the system to proceed without any proper checks," he said in an interview. "And we have a system that depends on regular checks." Last December, the Citizen requested documents under the access law on the results of the latest security tests. In its reply, the Transport Department said the information, with the exception of a handful of words on one page, is "totally exempted from disclosure." The department relied on sections of the access law that allow the government to withhold records concerning detection of subversive activities, investigative techniques, vulnerability of particular buildings, consultations involving federal employees, a minister or their staff, personal information and testing or auditing procedures, if disclosure "would prejudice the use or results of particular tests." Jacqueline Roy, a Transport Department spokeswoman, said officials shore up any deficiencies revealed by the airport tests. But it was decided following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. that the release of data could "compromise security" by putting "ideas in people's heads." "The events of Sept. 11 sort of changed the world forever," she said. Figures leaked last March revealed that screeners at 32 U.S. airports missed hundreds of knives, guns or simulated explosives during tests by government investigators in the months after the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Transport's refusal to release Canadian figures marks the second time since the U.S. terrorist attacks the department has declined to disclose such test data to the Citizen. Information Commissioner John Reid began investigating a complaint from the Citizen on the matter last spring. The Senate security committee was also denied access to test figures during an extensive study of Canada's airports, Mr. Kenny said. The committee's report pointed out numerous weaknesses and called for better screening of checked baggage and parcels, stricter airport security and improved training for employees. The committee also rejected the idea that revealing security flaws would give terrorists an advantage. "Loose lips are unlikely to sink ships when anyone who takes time to scrutinize security systems at airports -- and terrorists do take the time -- quickly sees glaring holes," the report said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribscape.com/tamnakthai/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************