Open Door

In a Feb. 4 letter to Adm. James Loy, head of the Transportation Security Administration, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said something must be done about the ease with which explosives can be gotten aboard an aircraft:

"With [the] current technology at airports, there is nothing to prevent a terrorist from strapping plastic explosives to his body and walking through the metal detector and onto a plane. I believe it is absolutely essential that TSA initiate a project to research, develop and install devices at airports that will detect explosives, not merely metal, when passengers walk through them. It seems ironic that we have undertaken expensive measures to keep bombs out of checked baggage but have done little to keep them out of the passenger cabin."