 SINCE
no U.S. newspapers or
broadcast media are reminding
their readers of the crash of
EgyptAir 990 in 1999, we
provide this article and links
(below).
|
http://www.guardian.co.uk/egyptair/0,2759,192889,00.html London, Friday December 3, 1999
Inadequate
security at dozens of American airports
was exposed yesterday in a report
published by United States government
investigators. Officials from
the US federal aviation administration
(FAA) repeatedly breached security
measures at major airports, six years
after a similar inquiry exposed similar
failings. JFK airport, in New York - from where
on October 31 EgyptAir flight 990 took off
less than an hour before crashing into the
Atlantic, killing all 217 people on board
- was among the airports criticised by
inspectors.  The
EgyptAir disaster has not been linked to
lax security at JFK or at the flight's
original departure airport of Los Angeles.
But the report seems certain to be seized
on by sceptics in Egypt and elsewhere, who
dispute US claims that the crash was
probably caused by the actions of the
flight's relief co-pilot, Gameel
al-Batouti. In a series of tests
earlier this year, FAA investigators
penetrated secure areas at major US
airports more often than they failed, the
report says. Between November 1998 and
April 1999 investigators made 173 attempts
to breach airport security and succeeded
in 117 cases - a 68% success rate.
Among the techniques used by the
investigators in their secret tests were:
following airport and airline staff
through doors into controlled areas
("piggybacking"); riding in unguarded
lifts; walking through departure gates and
cargo areas unchallenged and unchecked;
and driving through unstaffed vehicle
entrances. In some cases, the FAA investigators
boarded aircraft unchecked and without
tickets and were "seated and ready for
departure". A similar investigation in 1993 found
virtually identical weaknesses in
security. The FAA admitted it had been
"slow to take actions necessary to
strengthen access control requirements and
adequately oversee the implementation of
existing controls". The published version of the report
does not identify any of the airports at
which security was breached, or specify
which breaches took place at which
airports. But according to a leak to the
Washington Post newspaper, three of the
worst affected airports were JFK,
Chicago's O'Hare - both of which handle
national and international flights - and
Reagan National, Washington DC's main
domestic airport. The main airports at San
Francisco, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City
and Honolulu were also thought to have
been criticised, the Post reported. The most successful technique for
breaching security was piggybacking, which
worked on 71 out of the 75 occasions it
was attempted. The least successful was
attempted vehicle entry, which failed 36
times out of 43. Investigators boarded aircraft
belonging to 35 different airlines on 117
occasions, according to the report. Some
aircraft were boarded several times as
investigators wandered on and off the
plane unchallenged. In 43 instances, there
was no one on board the planes to
challenge the unauthorised entry. On 25 occasions the investigators
deliberately set off emergency exit alarm
systems in order to test airport security
responses. On 10 of these instances, no
personnel responded to the alarms. The FAA said yesterday that it had
already taken steps to tighten security at
79 airports since it had seen the results
of the tests last spring. A security firm at Miami international
airport was charged yesterday with failing
to carry out adequate checks on the
backgrounds of 22 employees and with lying
about it to federal
regulators.
Related
items on The Guardian website: | 
write to David
Irving