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'Few Thousand' Feared Dead

In response to Tuesday’s attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a dozen measures aimed to significantly beef up airport security and safety. The new security measures, described by Massport and FBI authorities at a press conference yesterday morning in Boston, include increasing the frequency of random ID checks, as well as heightening the presence of security personnel in airports.

Additionally, the FAA will require all airports to reduce the number of access points to the airport, discontinue curbside check-in, as well as remove unauthorized vehicles within 300 feet of all terminals. The guidelines will also prohibit the sale or use of knives, even in restaurants, beyond airport security checkpoints.

Boston’s Logan International Airport—the departure site for two of Tuesday’s hijacked planes—and airports nationwide will have to comply with these new safety requirements before reopening.

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But while Logan will work to meet the new FAA guidelines before reopening, Massport officials said in a press release yesterday that they have already implemented many of the new regulations—a fact that raises doubts about the effectiveness of the changes. A state police bomb detection unit has been stationed at Logan for 30 years and Massport has locked down more than 20 potential access points since 1998.

Massport is currently working to develop a schedule for increasing security inspections in passenger terminals and has plans to offer security training for airport employees.

At a press conference at the State House at 4:30 yesterday afternoon, acting Mass. Gov. Jane Swift said that Massport will try to move beyond the new FAA regulations.

“We are fully ready to assign state troopers to every security checkpoint,” Swift said.

She emphasized that there are no immediate plans for Boston’s airport to reopen.

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