By Gannett News Service

Published: Thursday, March 14, 2013, 9:21 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, March 14, 2013

WASHINGTON — Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole defended his decision to let passengers carry small knives on board flights on Thursday, saying “these are not things that terrorists are continuing to use.”

Instead, he told House members on Capitol Hill that airport security officers should be concentrating on non-metal explosives that have the capability to blow a hole in a plane.

Pistole last week announced that passengers could carry on small penknives and some sporting equipment such as two golf clubs, hockey sticks and small, souvenir baseball bats for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., commended him for the move. “I think it's common sense what you've done,” Rogers said.

Not every congressman on the House Homeland Security subcommittee agreed. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., held up a golf club and a hockey stick, asking whether they were dangerous.

“I think it could cause serious harm,” Thompson said of the hockey stick.

Many flight attendants, pilots and even air marshals, who fly on commercial planes undercover, have come out against letting the items on board.

George Taylor, president for the federal air marshal service within the Federal Law Enforcement Office Association, said terrorists could figure out how to defeat reinforced cockpit doors with weapons similar to the box cutters used on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It's just absolutely insane,” said Taylor, a 36-year law enforcement officer who has been an air marshal since 9/11. “I don't put my faith in that reinforced door. If it's made by man, it can be broken by man.

“They're very upset,” Taylor added, about fellow air marshals. “This is not the time to implement this policy.”

Taylor spoke at a news conference outside the Capitol where flight attendants also sharply criticized the policy change. There, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., threatened a House vote on his legislation to prohibit knives on planes if the TSA doesn't reverse course.

“The TSA policy makes no sense,” said Markey, who held up a knife that is allowed with a longer blade than a box-cutter. “It is a dangerous policy.”

Pistole showed lawmakers a video of the destructive force of the explosive found on a passenger in December 2009 that destroyed a sheet of plywood between two sawhorses.

“This is what I believe the TSA should be focused on,” Pistole said. “It really comes down to how can we best utilize our resources.”

He said TSA's policy on knives is still more restrictive than in federal buildings.

“Given the overall intelligence, these are not things that terrorists are continuing to use,” Pistole said of small knives.

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