McCain wants hearing on allowing knives on planes (VIDEO)
US senator John McCain looks on during day one of the 48th Munich Security Conference at Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 3, 2012 in Munich, Germany. The 48th Munich conference on security policy is running till February 5, 2012.
Sen. John McCain is calling for a congressional hearing into the Transportation Safety Administration's decision to allow small knives on planes.
The agency is under fire after announcing the move earlier this week.
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“We need a congressional hearing on the whole issue of what is a danger to the entire flight,” McCain said in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan. “I think we need to call witnesses since they have made this policy change.”
TSA Administrator John Pistole said the move brings the US into alignment with international rules and keeps with his "risk-based security" approach.
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Pilots and flight attendants have blasted the move, saying it needlessly puts them in danger.
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson also voiced his opposition in a letter to Pistole, according to CNN.
McCain told Morgan the policy change is out of step with TSA's otherwise rigorous screening procedures.
He also wants to know why TSA procedures haven't changed much in the 12 years since the Sept. 11 attacks and believes there are ways to streamline them, according to The Hill.
"They're still having to do invasive body searches. We still wait in long, long lines,” McCain told Morgan. “Couldn't we have a fast lane? Couldn't we have — develop a technology where we could all just walk through?”