Safety in the skies

Since Sept. 11, the government has taken great measures to ensure the safety of air travel. \nArmed air marshals accompany flights and federal workers carefully check baggage and screen passengers. President George W. Bush's administration has also proposed a $500 million fund to protect cockpits, calling for the airlines to fortify cockpit doors and restrict their opening during flight, and to keep the cockpit crew apprised of activity in the cabin. \nAs Bush told a crowd outside of Chicago's O'Hare airport, "One of the government's goals is to restore confidence in the airline industry." \nSo far, the government has done a great job, and air travel in the United States is probably the most secure that it's been in decades, if not ever. To continue the level of safety, it is essential that the federal government maintain its current role in aviation security. It is just not good enough anymore to have the safety of our skies resting in the hands of civilian workers. \nAs Rep. James Oberstar, the top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee said "This nation has been at war. Airlines are the front line of that war. We wouldn't think of contracting out our army to protect us against an open foreign invasion. We shouldn't think of contracting out responsibility of defending the internal United States against covert attacks." \nBut that is exactly what the current administration intends to do. Under the recent proposal by President Bush, new federal duties in airport security would include supervising passenger and baggage security, performing background checks and training screeners and other security personnel. The government would also purchase and have control of all equipment and oversight of security patrols. While all of the precautions are a step in the right direction toward making air travel more secure, baggage checkers, screeners and other security personnel should not just be trained by government -- they should be employed by the government. \nSome conservative members of Congress argue against the move because they say it could lead to unnecessary bureaucracy, but a nation ensuring the safety of its citizens is hardly unnecessary. We need our government to take over airline safety permanently. As we found out on Sept. 11, the consequences of not doing so are too great.