James Oberstar: “Unfortunately, it is yet a work in progress. There are many incomplete measures, some of which are moving along with…”

“Unfortunately, it is yet a work in progress. There are many incomplete measures, some of which are moving along with acceptable speed, others which are not. I am particularly concerned about whether or not we can meet the deadlines for detecting explosives and do believe this is a very real threat, including individually carried explosives similar to suicide belts; and we need to be adopting new measures to deal with that. The flight deck doors are of particular concern. The FAA is going along at its normal speed, which is 5, 10, 15 years to certify a minor change to an aircraft, in terms of approving these long-designed armored flight deck doors which are in use by foreign airlines. Without those armored flight deck doors, flight decks are still vulnerable, including the vulnerability that will not even be accommodated then, which is to put them behind a door similar to El Al, which includes a lav and food service.”