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Where the United States
stands in protecting its citizens
An interactive presentation

Stories by John Yaukey, Gannett News Service
New law will mean closer monitoring of foreign visitors

Northwest Indian tribe carves totem to heal
New York City

Moussaoui a prolific filer of accusatory motions

Splitting INS causes critics to take sides in sensitive divorce

Push to improve tracking of foreign students off to shaky start

Critics question domestic, overseas detentions

Coordination, cooperation continue to challenge
public health system

When, how to make smallpox vaccine available still debated

Cargo shipping poses threat to energy supply

Have homeland security concerns gone too far?

Lawmakers struggle on dealing with Iraq

War on terrorism faces hurdle from Arab intellectuals
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Travel and transportation
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Airport security has improved, but air travel remains vulnerable. Checkpoint screeners at 32 of the nation’s largest airports recently failed to detect fake guns, dynamite and bombs in 24 percent of undercover tests by the Transportation Security Administration.
Screeners repeatedly failed to find fake metal weapons that should have set off detectors. They also had trouble spotting fake bombs.
At three major airports — Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Jacksonville, Fla. — screeners missed fake weapons in almost 50 percent of the tests. At Los Angeles International Airport, the failure rate hit 41 percent.
In tests done before the TSA began overseeing checkpoint screening in February, Transportation Department investigators found failure rates of almost 50 percent at 32 airports tested.
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RED FLAG
Security remains largely unchanged on passenger trains since Sept. 11. Baggage and passenger screening is not required. Amtrak screens some baggage.
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Other concerns:
• The TSA has until Nov. 19 to hire 40,000 federal checkpoint screeners for the nation’s 429 commercial airports. The process is running behind, but Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta insists the goal will be met.
• About 40 percent of domestic cargo is shipped on passenger jets, but little is screened. The security system relies mainly on the records of thousands of “known shippers’’ and on companies that buy space on airlines and then consolidate freight from numerous customers. TSA officials said they plan to clarify cargo policies but will not add protections.
•  The TSA requires checked bags to be matched with passengers, but only where flights originate, not on connections.
•  Plans to install 2,200 explosive detection devices at commercial airports by year’s end may be delayed as airport managers have warned that they will not be able to meet the deadline.  
•  A July shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, where two people and the gunman were killed, has raised questions about whether to move the security perimeter at airports from the boarding areas out to the curb. The TSA is placing armed agents around ticket counters and other public areas in airports.  
•  The government has lowered training thresholds for federal air marshal applicants and has put new hires on flights without requiring the advanced gun skills the program initially required, according to a USA TODAY report.
•  Security is almost nonexistent at the nation’s 4,500 small airports where private planes fly, despite the fear that private planes could be used as weapons.
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U.S. battling image as arrogant superpower
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