May 17, 2005 WASHINGTON (CNN) - With hopes of closing a loophole in airline security nearly four years after 9/11, lawmakers in Washington Tuesday introduced two amendments to the 2006 Department of Homeland Security authorization bill.

The first would mandate the inspection of all cargo before it is shipped on passenger airplanes by 2008. The second amendment would require airlines to notify passengers when unscreened cargo is being shipped in the cargo hold of a passenger plane.

"Twenty-two percent of all the air cargo that is transported in the United States is loaded aboard passenger planes," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-author of the bipartisan legislation. "So while you and I empty our pockets, remove our shoes, walk through the metal detector, and as our baggage is being screened, tons and tons of mail and cargo packages are loaded under our seats without ever being physically screened."

Currently, the Transportation Security Administration relies on what's called the "Known-Shipper" database, which is a TSA approved list companies cleared to ship. In addition, "the agency inspects at-risk cargo that presents the greatest security threat, using current explosives detection technologies, canine teams or visual inspection," TSA spokesperson Amy von Walter told CNN.

When asked why such a requirement hasn't already been dealt with by previous legislation, Rep. Markey told CNN that "the airline industry doesn't want this burden placed on them," referring to the industry's lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.

Lobbyists for the industry argue however that no matter how much Congress legislates, the technology still does not exist to take on the varieyt of items that are shipped.

"There is simply no technology that currently exists that can screen 100 percent of cargo," said David Wirsing, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association. "Cargo comes in sizes that are far larger than typical passenger baggage and comes in a variety of shapes that machines cannot adapt to fit."

But, said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., at the very least passengers should know if there is unscreened cargo aboard their plane. Shays, who co-authored the legislation added, "Let passengers know that. Passengers have a right to know it."

Mary Fetchet, the mother of a September 11th victim, on hand to support the legislation said, "by double locking the front door and leaving the back wide open, the DHS has neglected its responsibility to provide the highest standard of escurity available to the American people."

ANGELA GREILING KEANE
10 May 2005

Although the air cargo industry doesn't expect the bill to go anywhere this year, it is regrouping to fight another move by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., to require inspection of all air cargo.

Markey's legislation has failed in the two previous Congresses. And in late April, the House Homeland Security Committee decidedly defeated a Markey provision that would have required 100 percent cargo inspection. But the lawmaker said air cargo security is a weak point in transportation security that must be addressed.

"Three and a half years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it is unacceptable that freight stored in the cargo bay beneath passengers' feet is almost never inspected for bombs that could bring down the plane," Markey said as he introduced the bill. "Passengers empty their pockets, take off their shoes and walk through security checkpoints while cargo is placed on the very same planes without being inspected."

The air cargo industry believes that its business does not pose a security risk and has successfully argued that point to Congress.

"There is simply no technology that currently exists that can screen 100 percent of cargo," Airforwarders Association Executive Director David Wirsing said. "Cargo comes in sizes that are far larger than typical passenger baggage and comes in a variety of shapes that machines cannot adapt to fit. Government authorities are already conducting research on this front but have publicly stated they are not ready to deploy any wide scale cargo screening efforts."

Wirsing and other industry officials say targeting high-risk cargo is a smarter strategy both in terms of time and money.