A former chief of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is questioning its decision to allow knives on plaines.
James Loy, who was appointed to be the TSA's second administrator after the agency was created in 2002, said on Wednesday that he would have had concerns about authorizing passengers to carry knives onto airplanes for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
"My sense is the decision to allow knives on board just seems to go against the grain for me personally," Loy said in an interview with C-Span's "Washington Journal."
"I mean, we worked so hard over the course of not only standing up the agency, but also to watch successive leaders go by and successive policy changes," he continued. "We certainly want to make the experience for our traveling public as painless as possible, so to speak, but first and foremost, the job is about security."
TSA has said the decision to allow passengers to carry knives with blades shorter than 2.36 inches in their carry-on luggage will free its security screeners to look for potential explosive devices instead of a long list of prohibited items.
However, Loy said Wednesday that the Sept. 11 attacks were carried out using small box cutters.
"It seems to me to have stirred the pot and allowed something on board that is so close to what [was used in the attacks]," he said. "I do not think I would have been very supportive of reintroducing knives on board commercial aircraft."
Loy said he would not predict whether TSA will go forward with the knife plan, which has faced backlash from airlines, unions for pilots and flight attendants and lawmakers.
TSA Administrator John Pistole is scheduled to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday.
