November 21, 2002 Bomb-Sniffer Deadline Relaxed ... Somewhat

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By Russ Niles, Newswriter

They probably weren't going to be able to do it, anyway, so it might as well be legal for airports to miss the Dec. 31, 2002, deadline to have bomb sniffers in place. The Homeland Security Bill, which is likely to pass this week, reportedly contains language that will allow the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow airports up to an extra year to have the baggage-screening equipment in place. Airports wanted the extension because some of them require costly renovations to accommodate the mini-van-sized detectors. Getting an extension might not be that easy, however. The TSA has said it will only allow 40 extensions among the 429 airports that must be equipped with the devices.