Jonathan House Emerald
Starting Friday, airline passengers could face a longer wait as new federal screening precedures go into effect. As part of the mandate,
all luggage will have to be screened for explosives under the supervision of federal officials.
Security
continued from page 1
the newly formed TSA, an offshoot
of the Department of Transporta
tion, that Congress created after the
Sept. 11 attacks.
Coontz believes that federal offi
cials haven’t called Eugene because
there are 174 domestic airports larg
er than Eugene.
The TSA released preliminary
rules to the public. Regardless of
whether Eugene officials are in the
know, regulations that outline how
bags can be searched have already
been drawn up.
There are four ways to check a bag
before it goes on the airplane, ac
cording to Cheryl Temple, spokes
woman for Horizon Air, one of the
three carriers that depart from Eu
gene. Bags can be manually
searched, sniffed for explosives by
canine teams, put through an explo
sive detection device or matched
one by one to the passengers board
ing each plane.
For security reasons, Temple de
clined to say which method Eu
gene’s airport security will use. But
there are no canine teams in Eugene
at this time, and the $1 million,
Cadillac-sized bomb screening ma
chines have only been installed at a
few airports. Eugene’s isn’t one
of them.
This could mean delays for Eu
gene’s 750,000 annual passengers.
A congressional committee will fol
low the progress of the new security
procedures that go into effect Friday at
the nation's 450 airports.
the Transportation and Aviation Se
curity Act, passed by Congress on Nov.
19, requires airports to screen checked
bags before passengers are allowed to
boaid planes.
The Transportation Aviation Sub
committee will meet Jan. 23 to discuss
Whether airports have met the new
deadline. The meeting wifi be the first
Congressional oversight of the newly
formed Transportation Security Admin
istration , which is responsible for en
forcing the aviation law and keeping
America’s airport's safe.
By 2003, there will he a federal secu
rity director and a $1 million bomb-de
tection machine at every airport. But
meeting deadlines this year for securi
ty-taxed airports might prove difficult;
in the absence of machines or bomb
sniffing dogs, every bag must be
checked by hand.
ft airports canl get systems in place
by Friday, the hearing might be used to
penalize those not in compliance. But
Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for Rep.
Peter DeFazio, D-Eugene, said the com
mittee has yet to decide whether to
punish any offenders.
—Brook Reinhart
Every bag will have to be manually
searched, which could mean long
lines'. Or bags will be matched to all
passengers as they board their
flights, to prevent terrorists from
loading bombs indiscriminately
onto airplanes. However, there are
also problems with this approach.
Airlines “would have to extract
the passenger’s bags from the belly
of the plane,” Coontz said. The
process could cause considerable
delays if a passenger doesn’t show
up. And even if all bags are matched
to passengers, the screening method
doesn’t foil suicide bombers.
Bag matching “enhances securi
ty, no doubt,” Temple said. “But to
what degree?”
Jan. 18 is the latest deadline man
dated by the Aviation and Trans
portation Security Act passed by
Congress on Nov. 19 to make air
ports safer.
The act requires that bomb
screening devices be in every air
port by 2003 and that every airport
have a federal security director who
ensures each facility is in compli
ance with the Transportation Secu
rity Administration.
E-mail community reporter Brook Reinhard at
brookreinhard@daiiyemerald.com.
News briefs
ASUO encourages students
to ‘Meet the Senators’
Students curious about the
ASUO Student Senate can chat and
snack with their elected representa
tives from 6-7 p.m. tonight in the
International Lounge.
Tonight’s event, “Meet the Sena
tors,” is intended to let students
kmow more about who the senators
are and what the senate does, Sen.
Nadia Hasan said. Light refresh
ments will be served.
Senators also hope to encourage
students to run for a senate seat in
the ASUO 2002 General Election,
held Feb. 27-March 1, Hasan said.
The ASUO Student Senate is re
sponsible for distributing more
than $8 million in student inciden
tal fees each year through the
ASUO Programs Finance Commit
tee, the Athletic Department Fi
nance Committee and the EMU.
By becoming involved with stu
dent government, students can in
fluence how their fee money is
spent, Hasan said.
“Obviously if students go to
school here, they pay $170 (in stu
dent incidental fees each term), and
they should have a say in where
that money goes,” she said.
Open senate positions for 2002
2003 include six finance seats on
the Programs Finance Committee,
the EMU Board and the Athletic
Department Finance Committee, as
well as seven academic seats.
The election filing deadline for
all positions and ballot measures is
5 p.m. Jan. 30. An informational
meeting about the election will be
held 5 p.m. Jan. 23 in a to-be-an
nounced location. ASUO Elections
Coordinator Courtney Hight said
candidates must attend one of two
meetings at 4:30 and 6 p.m. Jan. 30
in the EMU Walnut Room.
Elections packets are available in
the ASUO office'in Suite 4 of the
EMU. For more information, call
the ASUO office at 346-3724.
— Kara Cogswell
University employee caught
in Web sting
A spokesman for the U.S. Cus
toms Service confirmed that a Uni
versity employee was among those
targeted in the Dec. 11 sting against
the “DrinkOrDie” Web piracy ring,
but he declined to comment fur
ther because the search warrants
are sealed.
University General Counsel
Melinda Grier could not be reached
for comment at press time, but Cus
toms Service spokesman Kevin Bell
said federal agents executed nearly
50 search warrants in cities across
the United States, including Eu
gene. The sting targeted employees
and students suspected of involve
ment in the group and agents
seized nearly 200 computers.
The raid was part of “Operation
Buccaneer,” the first phase in a larg
er crackdown on Web piracy rings.
Bell said investigators targeted
“DrinkOrDie” because it is one of
the oldest and best known Internet
piracy groups. The group was
founded in Moscow in 1993, and it
uses the Internet to steal software,
games, movies and music.
“Whatever is out there that can
be copied, these guys will do it,”
Bell said.
Bell said groups such as
“DrinkOrDie” care about their rep
utations for pirating copyrighted
music over their profiteering. But
they steal an estimated $12 billion
per year. Between $1 and $5 billion
can be attributed to the groups that
will be targeted by “Operation Buc
caneer,” Bell said.
The Customs Service is current
ly evaluating evidence collected in
the sting, and Bell said they antici
pate further stings at locations on
the East Coast in the near future.
— Leon Tovey
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