WASHINGTON – A trio of House lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday to block flights the Transportation Department has approved between Cuba and the U.S. because of security concerns that the direct flights will ease the flow of bombs and terrorists to the U.S.
Dozens of daily flights to 10 Cuban cities are scheduled to begin in September for the first time in 50 years. The flights are part of a diplomatic thaw President Obama initiated to restore relations with the island 90 miles from Florida. American Airlines has already begun selling tickets.
The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, must certify that Cuban authorities meet standards for screening passengers and luggage before direct flights begin. TSA is working on its security review of the Cuban airports and plans to complete that assessment before the scheduled flights begin.
“American only flies non-stop from foreign airports that are inspected and cleared by the TSA for last-point-of-departure flights to the United States,” said Ross Feinstein, an airline spokesman.
But Reps. John Katko, R-N.Y.; Richard Hudson, R-N.C.; and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, want to block the flights until the TSA certifies that Cuba has the screening equipment and airport worker training to meet U.S. security standards. The bill asks the Government Accountability Office to confirm that Cuba meets the standards.
The lawmakers also want an agreement to allow air marshals, who fly undercover and are armed to thwart terrorists, on the flights.
“You’ve got a potential nightmare on your hands,” said Katko, who noted a flood of fraudulent Cuban passports in the Mideast and the communist government's long-time hostility to the U.S. “I’d rather have inconvenience than a tragedy.”
Hudson represents an American Airlines hub in Charlotte, which received one of the daily flights to Havana. But he worried that Cuban airports don’t have proper screening or explosive detection equipment and can’t identify fake documents.
“The health and viability of that company is very important to me, but the security of Americans is more important to me,” Hudson said.
TSA declined comment Tuesday because the legislation is pending.
The dispute is urgent because the Transportation Department tentatively approved this month 20 daily flights to Havana. Last month, the department approved another 151 weekly flights to nine other destinations: Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba and Varadero.
Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, the busiest destination for visitors, has three terminals — one for domestic flights, one for international flights and one specifically for U.S. travelers. Terminal 2, as the U.S. terminal is officially known, is a sparse, rudimentary building that has been undergoing renovations to accommodate more passengers.
The terminal currently has one, cramped bank of check-in counters, one row of customs officers checking visas and passports and two metal detectors and X-ray machines to screen people and their carry-on bags before boarding their U.S.-bound flights. One Cuban official sits to the side to certify whether travelers have paid their taxes on pieces of art they’re taking with them, and two stores sell Cuban rum and cigars to travelers.
The lawmakers, who tried to visit the Cuban airports in June but couldn’t get visas, said their concerns focus on a lack of TSA oversight at the 10 airports.
At a May hearing, Larry Mizell, the TSA official in the Caribbean with an office in the Bahamas, said he had visited only seven of the 10 Cuban airports by that time. Mizell wouldn’t discuss equipment or security standards at the airports in a public meeting.
Seth Stodder, the department’s assistant secretary for border, immigration and trade policy, said an agreement was still being negotiated to have air marshals on flights.
Paul Fujimura, assistant administrator for global strategies at the Department of Homeland Security, said inspectors found Cuba meets standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a branch of the United Nations.
Fujimura said charter flights have been operating from six airports for years under ICAO standards and “we are completely comfortable with the security standards that are being met on those flights.”
Katko and Hudson said ICAO standards alone are too lax after bombings at two airports without direct flights to the U.S. A Russian Metrojet was destroyed over Egypt in October, and a Daallo Airlines flight in February in Somalia had a hole blown in the side of the plane, both from explosives suspected of being smuggled aboard by airport workers.
“They met international standards in Sharm el-Sheikh and Mogadishu, too, so that doesn’t mean anything,” Katko said.
Contributing: Alan Gomez.
