TRACY SMITH, co-host:
As we just reported, a congressional report is blasting the federal air marshal program, saying the agency's own rules put the marshals in danger. That report comes on the heels of other changes under way at airports across the country, aimed at making it easier for you to get through security. They include a kind of secure speed pass for frequent flyers and a new shoe scanner. For perspective on all of this, we turn this morning to former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall, who joins us from Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.
Good morning.
Mr. JIM HALL (Former Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board): Good morning, Tracy.
SMITH: Let's talk about the air marshals first. This report says that air marshals can't effectively do their job because their cover's being blown. Is it too easy for terrorists to figure out who the air marshal is on the plane?
Mr. HALL: Well, I think the air marshals provide a very effective deterrent in terms of aviation. However, the marshals themselves have been some of the individuals who have first criticized the fact that they way they're deployed may be a little too obvious and may make their work less effective.
SMITH: How do we fix this problem?
Mr. HALL: Well, I think, essentially, trying to look at it and make some recommendations and adjustments in the program. I think we have a good number of air marshals out there. I think we need to continue to deploy them. We probably need to look at some alternative ways in terms of scheduling them on flights as well as where they sit in the aircraft and the attire they wear so that they're not quite as obvious as it appears they feel they are now.
SMITH: Mm-hmm. Maybe not quite as predictable. I want to talk about this new technology that's being evaluated by the TSA. There are two types, there's the shoe scanner, which would allow you not to have to take your shoes off if you go through security. There's also a device that scans your finger to check for explosives. Are these technologies making us safer or just getting us through security quicker?
Mr. HALL: Well, I hope they'll do both. I mean, we have spent billions of dollars through Homeland Security since 9/11 on technology. So it's about time some of that technology is paying off in terms of being able to shorten the lines that all of us have to stand in at the airport. You know, the loss of productivity in this country in terms of the amount of hours that all of us have to spend standing in the airport lines, I think, is enormous, so I welcome this and I think it can both make us safer as well as, you know, be more effective.
SMITH : You know, some people would argue that be best technology is the human mind, and that it's very important for screeners to know how to spot erratic behavior. Has training improved in that area?
Mr. HALL: I think, overall, TSA does a pretty good job. I think that the one thing that I have said from the very beginning is, in aviation security, we need the same type of independent watchdog that we have with the National Transportation Safety Board in aviation safety so, as we have incidents, they can be examined and recommendations can be made to adjust or tweak the system. We still don't really have an independent, outside look at all these dollars that are being spent.
SMITH: And bottom line, is there a danger of sacrificing safety for the sake of convenience?
Mr. HALL: Well, there is--I think we always--we have to keep foremost in our minds that the reason 9/11 occurred was we were asleep on the watch, and we can not permit that to occur again. And it's important for us, I think, to try to make things more convenient, but we're going to have to be very careful in how we approach that and take that in very small steps.
SMITH: Mm-hmm, and don't get complacent. All right. Jim Hall, thanks so much to you.
Mr. HALL: Thank you, Tracy.
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