September 5, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani26,1423

NEW YORK, Sept 4: A US newspaper on Wednesday exposed glaring holes in airport security after its reporters managed to carry potentially lethal weapons onto 14 separate flights — a week before the September 11 anniversary.

The New York Daily News said that none of its reporters, carrying items such as box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray in their carry-on baggage, were prevented from boarding the flights which covered 11 different US airports and six major airlines.

The newspaper investigation was carried out over the Labour Day weekend, with airport security already on high alert in the run-up to the September 11 anniversary.

“Not a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and planes by federal authorities,” the newspaper said.

The airports included New York’s Kennedy and La Guardia, as well as Boston’s Logan Airport, Washington’s Dulles International and international hubs in Los Angeles, Chicago and Los Angeles.

All the tickets bought by the reporters were one way, which usually raises security suspicions.

The News had carried out a similar exercise with the same results in the month after the September 11 attacks.

While security measures have been significantly beefed up in the interim in terms of technology and trained personnel, the newspaper concluded that the changes “amounted to nothing more than a big show.”

The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) — the federal agency which has been gradually taking over checkpoint security at airports since mid-February — admitted that much remained to be done.

“Clearly there’s a long way to go with security,” said TSA spokeswoman Heather Rosenker. “It can never be 100 percent, much as we would love it to be.”—AFP