Washington, D.C.

Longer airport lines predicted for holidays

A top federal aviation official warned Wednesday of longer lines at airports this holiday season, saying there would be more passengers.

Industry experts agreed that lines could be longer but cited a reduction in the number of security screeners at passenger checkpoints.

Stephen McHale, the Transportation Security Administration’s deputy administrator, told a Senate hearing he was “concerned about increasing passenger flow this holiday season. We could see longer lines this year than last year at airports.”

David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Assn., said in an interview, “There’s a big concern they’re not going to have enough people to man the checkpoints for the holidays.”

The TSA has cut its screening work force from 55,600 in March to 48,000 to save money.

Washington, D.C.

New FBI guidelines ease background checks

The FBI will be able to more easily check a person’s background for potential terrorist activities under national security guidelines issued Wednesday by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.

Civil libertarians said the rules could invite abuses against innocent people.

The guidelines enable the FBI to conduct a “threat assessment” of potential terrorists or terrorist activity without initial evidence of a crime or national security threat, as required to begin a more formal preliminary or full investigation.

North Korea

Reactor project suspended

The United States and its key allies agreed Wednesday to suspend construction of two nuclear power plants in North Korea, saying that the energy-starved communist state won’t get them unless it gives up its nuclear weapons program.

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, a U.S. based consortium, has been building two light-water reactors as part of the 1994 accord between Washington and Pyongyang in which North Korea promised to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons development.

But the deal went sour in October 2002 when North Korea admitted to running such a weapons program.