Since the attacks of September 11, flying has become increasingly difficult. Security has been heightened exponentially, as has the time it takes to get from the parking lot to your gate.
On December 25, passenger Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab lit an explosive on fire aboard a trans-Atlantic Northwest Airlines flight, but it failed to detonate. The United States believes this was “an attempted act of terrorism”.
According to government investigators, Abdulmutallab was able to smuggle the explosives onto the plane by hiding them in his underwear, where screeners are not allowed to search.
In response to this recent scare, new detectors have been built to detect explosives hidden in clothing. According to NBC news, only 19 U.S. airports have received these machines.
The Transportation Security Administration wants to distribute more of the whole-body scanners, but it has met resistance. Opposition from parties including civil liberties groups, passengers and some members of Congress have made it difficult to install more scanners.
The American Civil Liberties Union argues that the scanners are too revealing. While members of Congress believe passengers should have a choice between the whole-body scan and a pat down, passengers at Lambert airport must already remove sweaters to be put through the scanners, or agree to a pat down.
“There are pat downs,” a Delta Airlines pilot said. “And there is a flood of new security equipment coming in the near future. There will be full body machines, and most people will be required to go through them.”
Passengers are worried that the heightened security measures will slow security down even further.
“Initially it will [slow down security],” the Delta pilot said. “But the TSA is run by the government, and the government will spend more money on a more efficient security system.”
The few body scanners that are being used in American airports are stationed at international airports only. Because Lambert is not an international airport anymore, it has not yet received the scans.
“Only international airports have the full body scan right now,” a Lambert Airport TSA member said. “Once they are able to create more we should be getting them.”
In the days following the Christmas Day attack, new policies were put into place for international flights. Passengers were only allowed one carry on bag and they were not allowed to have anything in their laps or leave their seats for the last hour of the trip.
“I think we have a very safe system,” the Delta pilot said. “And it always gets better.”
President Barack Obama addressed the airport security problems in a speech delivered several days after the December 25 attack. He said there would be many improvements in airport security and the government is training Homeland Security Department agencies to move to the federal Air Marshall Service. Obama also said that the United States is still at “war” with al-Qaida.
“The U.S. government had the information — scattered throughout the system — to potentially uncover this plot and disrupt attack,” President Obama said. “Rather than a failure to collect or share intelligence, this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence that we already had.”
The President stressed the importance of remaining strong as a nation, and not to be cowardly in the face of terrorism. He said that as a nation we must remember our American values and use them.
“Here at home, we will strengthen our defenses,” President Obama said. “But we will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans, because great and proud nations don’t hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.”
The President also focused on the idea that during this time Americans must remain connected and united as a nation, and that we must work together to keep our country safe.
“For now is not a time for partisanship,” President Obama said. “It’s a time for citizenship — a time to come together and work together with the seriousness of purpose that our national security demands.”