PBS高端访谈:美国TSA怎样提高机场的安全性

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. Senate took a hard look at airport safety today and two new accounts questioning the effectiveness of the Transportation Security Administration.

　　MAN: This Senate hearing will come to order.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The Senate hearing came a week after the leak of a damning report on the TSA's failures. The federal Department of Homeland Security, TSA's parent agency, found fake explosives, weapons and other banned items went unnoticed in 67 of 70 tests.

　　Today, Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse questioned John Roth, the inspector¹ general who wrote the report.

　　SEN. BEN SASSE, R-Neb.: Do you think it's possible that TSA really could really have not understood how grave their problem was before last week's leaked report?

　　JOHN ROTH, Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security: You know, it's something that we think about all the time. I mean, do they truly understand the nature of the risk that they face? Candidly², I worry about that.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Others said they're worried that a push for reduced airport wait times has actually harmed security.

　　Rebecca Roering is assistant TSA director at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

　　REBECCA ROERING, Assistant Federal Security Director, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport: TSA is handing out pre-check status like Halloween candy in an effort to expedite passengers as quickly as possible, despite self-admitted security gaps that are being created by the process.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, a second inspector general's report finds TSA's vetting³ of aviation workers is — quote — “generally effective.” But it did fail to identify 73 employees with unspecified links to terrorism.

　　For all that, at today's hearing, Missouri Democrat⁴ Claire McCaskill offered a partial defense⁵ of the security agency.

　　SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, D-Mo.: We have got to remember, as we all sit and pound the desk about how bad TSA is, we keep cutting the amount of money they have. And we ask them to do more and do it better.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The hearing was cut short after a telephoned bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax⁶.

　　And joining me is Jack⁷ Riley. He's vice⁸ president of the RAND Corporation's National Security Division. He focuses on transportation and border security.

　　Mr. Riley, thank you for being with us.

　　How concerned should the American people be? These lapses⁹ sound pretty serious.

　　JACK RILEY, RAND National Security Research Division: Well, I understand why the reports are alarming, but I think the thing people need to keep in mind is that there are a number of other layers that are in place to help keep planes safe, not the least of which is cockpit doors are locked, passengers and crew know that they have to intervene, and on many flights, an unknown percentage, but many flights, we have air marshals present.

　　So there are a lot of other layers to security. And focusing simply on one segment I think is a disservice.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: So when they say that out of a test, 67 out of 70 contraband¹⁰ items, they said, got through undetected by TSA, that doesn't sound concerning?

　　JACK RILEY: Oh, no question that it's an abysmal¹¹ performance, but the average TSA person during the course of a week probably encounters thousands, if not tens of thousands of passengers, and they're looking for extremely rare contraband and extremely rare kinds of stuff that most of them probably never see, certainly in the course of a week, maybe in the course of their career.

　　So I think one of the things that we can do to help narrow down the list and improve effectiveness is to reduce the set of things that we have them looking for at the checkpoints. Liquids and some of the other kinds of contraband that they're looking for probably don't need to be on the list at this point.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Are you saying that because those don't pose the threat that it was thought they did?

　　JACK RILEY: Yes, I think there's growing consensus¹² that the non-metallic liquid bomb issue probably wasn't as severe as people thought it was back in 2006 or 2007, when the restrictions¹³ first started being put in place.

　　There's never really been a credible¹⁴ demonstration¹⁵ of the ability to generate that kind of bomb outside of laboratory conditions. But one of the things that, it does is provides a tremendous distraction¹⁶ to TSA personnel as they look for liquids and other kinds of things at the checkpoints.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: So what should they be focusing on?

　　JACK RILEY: I think that what they should be focusing on are the things that can be used to help bring down planes very effectively, and that really is a very small set of guns and bombs, the very kinds of things that unfortunately they missed in the testing.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Just quickly, Jack Riley, the other report that's come out indicates that, I guess out of — it was a large number of people, 900,000 active airport workers. They found 73 of them had unspecified links to terrorism. Should we — should people be concerned about that?

　　JACK RILEY: You know, I just had a chance to read that report before I came down for the interview.

　　It's a little tough to say. I would say that TSA has, through the airports and its own security force, a very large number of people that need to be cleared and have background checks on. What I'm looking for is their reaction to the I.G.'s report. And what I heard today was ownership of the lapses.

　　And I'm fairly confident that the new administrator¹⁷ of TSA is going to get on this very quickly, and I doubt we will be talking about it the next time there is this kind of investigation¹⁸.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: So, if one is to ask you, what's the main thing TSA needs to do differently going forward, what would you say?

　　JACK RILEY: I think the main thing is reducing the set of things that they're looking for, making sure that they have a focused mission, looking for the guns and bombs, and stepping back from some of the things like knives and other small objects that really don't pose a threat to bringing down the planes.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Jack Riley, vice president of the RAND Corporation, we thank you very much for talking with us.

　　JACK RILEY: Thank you.

1 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

2 candidly   

adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地

参考例句：

• He has stopped taking heroin now,but admits candidly that he will always be a drug addict.他眼下已经不再吸食海洛因了,不过他坦言自己永远都是个瘾君子。
• Candidly,David,I think you're being unreasonable.大卫，说实话我认为你不讲道理。

3 vetting   

n.数据检查[核对，核实]v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的现在分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• Scripts had to be submitted to Ministry of Information officials for vetting. 必须把脚本提交给信息部官员审查。 来自互联网
• Their purpose in clicking deeper into a site is one of vetting. 他们深入点击网站的目的是一种诊疗。 来自互联网

4 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

10 contraband   

n.违禁品，走私品

参考例句：

• Most of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods.大多数的城市市场上都充斥着走私货。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods.海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

11 abysmal   

adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的

参考例句：

• The film was so abysmal that I fell asleep.电影太糟糕，看得我睡着了。
• There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States.中餐在美国的糟糕状态可以从历史上找原因。

12 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

13 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

14 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

15 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

16 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

17 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。