Agency head created list of
‘Stupid Rules’ he’d like overturned
Adm. James M. Loy, new head of the Transportation Security
Agency, has compiled a list of air security rules he calls
"stupid."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 — To
hear it from Adm. James M. Loy, the “Stupid Rule
List” now in place at the federal Transportation
Security Administration actually sounds pretty smart.
Gone is the ban against carrying coffee cups through
airport security checkpoints. Eliminated are the
two rote questions — “Have your bags been in your
possession at all times?” and “Has anyone unknown
to you asked you to carry anything on board this
plane?” — asked at check-in counters. It’s now OK
to carry nail clippers or eyelash curlers aboard
an airplane in a carry-on bag.
‘To whatever degree that ideas can be translated into a
lighter touch, to make a point vividly but with humor at the
same time — I think people identify with that kind of thing
pretty strongly.’
— ADM. JAMES LOY
BEFORE LOY took over as TSA chief
two months ago, none of those commonsense ideas were allowed
at the nation’s 429 airports. Since then, Loy, the retired
U.S. Coast Guard commandant, has espoused the idea that
airports can be secure without being inconvenient.
He has compiled a “Stupid Rule List” of TSA mandates
with an eye toward overturning them.
It’s an example of the sort of funny-but-smart policies
that Loy made his trademark during a 38-year career with the
Coast Guard — and have endeared him to Capitol Hill and
transportation industry officials alike.
“To whatever degree that ideas can be translated into a
lighter touch, to make a point vividly but with humor at the
same time — I think people identify with that kind of thing
pretty strongly,” Loy, a native of Altoona, Pa., said during a
recent interview.
‘STUPID RULE
LIST’
The TSA, still in its infancy as the federal agency
created to ensure security at airports and other
transportation sites after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is
still considering a number of items on its “Stupid Rule List.”
They include:
—The “30-minute” rule that prohibits flyers in or out
of Reagan National Airport from standing on airplanes within
30 minutes of Washington.
—Restricting parking within 300 feet of an airport.
—Randomly searching passengers at the boarding gate.
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Loy’s management style could not be
more different, observers say, from that of his predecessor,
James Magaw, who resigned in July amid sharp criticism.
Magaw, a former Secret Service agent and head of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, took a strict law-enforcement
approach and was perceived as too gruff when dealing with
Congress and the traveling public.
Magaw “did not interact with Congress,” said Rep. James
Oberstar, D-Minn., the ranking Democrat on the House
Transportation Committee and a sharp critic of TSA before Loy
took over. “He didn’t understand that this is a big
constituency that he has to keep informed, and be open and
candid with, and he didn’t do that.
“The admiral, however, is much more supportive,”
Oberstar said. “I’ve heard airport managers say, ’He came back
and he knew my first name.”’
SENSE OF HUMOR
Loy also has what colleagues describe as an “impish”
sense of humor. He was infamous in the Coast Guard for his
impromptu McDonald’s runs — although his TSA aides now say
they’re to Dairy Queen — before trips.
Sharing a podium several years ago with then-Defense
Secretary William Cohen, Loy reminded his boss that the two
had squared off during a 1962 college basketball tournament —
and that he had won.
“He brought up the fact that they trounced us,” said
Cohen, who, as Bowdoin College’s star player, sat out the game
against the Coast Guard because of a broken jaw.
Beneath Loy’s joviality is “a man who is very, very
smart,” Cohen said.
“He’s self-deprecating. Don’t be fooled by it. He analyzes
issues with a great critical eye; loves to engage in
self-deprecation and touch issues on the light side. But he’s
a profound thinker.”
Industry officials said they were simply grateful to be
invited to the decision-making process as TSA struggles to
create an air travel system that is as concerned with customer
service as it is with security.
“Our input was not always welcomed in the early days of
the TSA,” said Michael Wascom, spokesman for the
Washington-based Air Transport Association, which represents
22 domestic and five foreign passenger and cargo airlines. Loy
“has been much more receptive to at least understanding our
ideas or input,” Wascom said. “His approach is noticeably
different from Magaw, in that his approach to policy-making is
based in practicality and reality.
“We’re happy. We’re much happier today than we were a
few months ago.”
