Post-9/11 airport security still evolving

Jim Agnew has traveled more than 2.5 million miles on commercial flights. The Tampa retiree has a longstanding perspective of aviation security extending well before the 9/11 attacks.

Those were the days when public attention focused more on potential hijackers with a personal cause, such as diverting a flight to Cuba, than an attack by terrorists with broader political aims.

Following 9/11, government employees took over passenger security. It's a system in flux, drawing frequent attention for passenger laments over inconvenience, pat-down searches and intrusive image scans.

But Agnew is not complaining. He's grateful airline passengers have traveled safely since the 9/11 attacks.

As a frequent traveler and general aviation pilot, Agnew generally is more pleased with travel through Tampa International Airport than other large airports.

"Tampa always had done a pretty good job controlling the security lines," he said. "I've always found it pretty easy to get through Tampa, although every new thing they add just delays you further."

Passengers must remove shoes, belts and comply with Transportation Security Administration instructions for the latest scanning devices, simple tasks for some that confound and delay others who might fail to properly hold their airline ticket over their head, away from their body, or remove a wallet from a back pocket.

"Back in the days my wife and I were flying on business, it was possible to fly for a meeting to Chicago or Detroit and easily get back on the same day, without spending a night and that expense on the road," Agnew, 70, said.

"That's not the case these days, with the extra hours security adds to every itinerary."

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Some of the evolution in airport security follows operational or intelligence findings. , such as TSA limiting in 2006 the quantity of liquids that could be carried on aircraft after authorities foiled a plot to bring down transatlantic flights with a liquid explosive.

Other changes come from public pressure, such as recent investments in technology enhancements that further blur body images for equipment in place at Tampa International and elsewhere.

In 2008, Tampa International began to participate in a TSA program at the airside terminals in which passengers could choose which security lane was appropriate for them to use, based on their experience with the procedures.

That allowed passengers with families, for example, to choose a lane separate from business travelers.

Now the airport utilizes a preferred passenger lane managed by the airlines that is available for their frequent travelers.

"This change was requested by the air carriers and has worked well," airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said.

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Still, security post-9/11 has resulted in some perceived excesses nationally.

In May, for example, Kansas City security screeners were photographed patting down a baby, after the baby's stroller set off an explosives alarm screening.

In July, a 95-year-old woman was asked to remove a diaper at a checkpoint in a Florida Panhandle airport.

The TSA does not discuss specifics in security procedures or security performance for individual airports, such as Tampa International, where 550 TSA employees are assigned.

"We are committed to a strategy that goes far beyond the physical screening at the checkpoint that most people associate us with," TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz in Miami said in an email.

The passenger checkpoint is one of more than 20 layers of TSA security that have evolved since 9/11, she said.

Those include intelligence gathered by multiple U.S. agencies; checking passenger manifests against watch lists; training officers in behavior detection; and securing flights with air marshals.

"A terrorist who has to overcome multiple security layers in order to carry out an attack is more likely to be preempted, deterred or fail during the attempt," Koshetz said.

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Multiple security failures contributed to the success of the 9/11 attacks, including a failure to respond to intelligence reports of a possible attack, including the now-well-known CIA report delivered to former President Bush on Aug. 6, 2001, titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S."

But the ultimate failure was the ability the terrorists had to penetrate the cockpits of the four hijacked airliners, a design and security flaw the government says it has addressed in part by strengthening cockpit doors.

Despite efforts, however, improved security measures are needed, two Government Accountability Office reports released in July concluded after studying the TSA's baggage screening measures and behavior observation techniques.

Those reports prompted Florida U.S. Rep John Mica, chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and a frequent TSA critic, to call for screening to be turned back to private firms, which ran airport screening operations before 9/11.

That would give the TSA time to focus on other security elements.

Agnew believes whatever security improvements made in the future shouldn't further delay travelers.

"You have to be careful of ways to beat the system," said Agnew, who wrote Mica with suggestions on improving airport security. "But it should be possible to streamline the system, too."