Congressional Committee Holds Hearing On Aviation Security

A congressional subcommittee examining aviation security a decade after 9/11 has told a Boston hearing that more needs to be done in several areas, including passenger screening and airport perimeter security.

The chairman of the homeland security panel, Rep. Michael McCaul, on Friday praised Logan International Airport for being a leader in security since terrorists hijacked jetliners from Boston and flew them into the World Trade Center towers.

The Texas Republican cited a program that spots suspicious passenger behavior that launched at Logan and is now being used at 160 airports nationwide.

Democratic Rep. William Keating, of Massachusetts, says perimeter security is a problem, citing the case of a teenager who breached security at the Charlotte, N.C., airport and hid in the wheel well of a flight to Boston, where he fell to his death.

Chris McLaughlin, the TSA's assistant administrator for Security Operations, said he was not sure if the TSA had authority to shut down an airport in such situations.

Keating says he was surprised and not pleased about this response. He says the TSA should have the ability to shut down airports that are not secure and that Congress has to make some changes.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom