NEWSWEEK: How has your life changed since losing your son in the Pan Am explosion?

Robert Monetti: My life has changed beyond reality. Thirteen years ago I was an engineer working mostly in the pharmaceutical business. Now I do aviation security. My life has turned upside down. Not everybody [who lost someone Flight 103] has gone through such a dramatic change, but one thing led to another with me.

You’ve spent a lot of time studying various ways of improving air safety, and giving advice as a member of the FAA’s Aviation Security Advisory Committee. Do you feel that your suggestions are being heard?

It’s been kind of frustrating because the [newly-created] Transportation Security Administration has pretty much shut off everyone who was in security before September 11–except the airlines. And that is really frustrating because the airlines have been part of the problem. Now that we have 3,000 dead bodies, the airlines are the ones advising these people. That doesn’t give me a real comforting feeling. None of the people on the TSA teams have been made public. It’s just maddening. Everyone in the industry that has been pushing for reforms for so long is being shut out. Airports, consultants–if you’re not part of the airline industry you don’t have access. Airlines have always perceived security as being expensive. I’m not convinced that it’s more expensive or time-consuming, it’s just that no one has done it so that it works. The airlines are the ones that screwed up on the 11th. If Congress really wanted to know what was wrong, they would have other people testifying.

If you were to advise the Transportation Security Administration based on what you now know, what would you suggest?

The first question is: what are our priorities? What are we trying to accomplish? In 1996, we came up with about 100 pages of recommendations. For every method that people could use to bring bad things on planes, we came up with a system to thwart it.

One small thing we could do is, over the years at most airports, the checkpoints have been moving closer to the front door because it’s good for business. It used to be that the checkpoints were right at the gate.

You want the area you are securing to be as a small as possible. But from the commercial point of view, you want as many people through security as fast as possible so they have plenty of time to buy ties. The commercial benefit has always taken priority over security. There are also a lot of specific measures you could take at the checkpoints themselves. They are not equipped with the best technology to help these screeners. That’s one of those awful jobs that’s both important and boring. You need to give them better equipment. There has been a distinct lack of actually providing security before so the equipment they had was mostly for show. I was in Kennedy airport in New York recently, and there were buckets and buckets of knives and scissors. But there is now little consistency because each checkpoint is operated by a different airline. So the security is as good as the worst security contractor in there. By federalizing the security screeners, it will be better. There should be more consistency–at least within one airport.

As you mentioned, the government must takeover contracts for baggage screening by Feb. 17. Do you think it will make much of a difference beyond bringing consistency to the various checkpoints within a particular airport?

Frankly, I think it’s overkill. The system didn’t work because it was always deemed to be a pain in the butt. The airlines didn’t want to spend any more than they had to on it. They didn’t train these people, or support them with the proper equipment. But just because that didn’t work doesn’t mean making them federal employees will work.

Earlier this month, the airlines agreed to implement tighter security measures for checked baggage, scanning checked baggage and matching bags with the passengers to make sure both are on the flight. Do you think this is an effective preventive measure?

Bag match is a really good way to ensure that your bag is in the same place that you are. It’s another step in the security process, and a good housekeeping thing to do. Right now, you don’t even have to be on the plane to blow it up. Now you do. But by itself, it’s not a security procedure. Many airlines have already been doing it to a certain extent, though they don’t want to admit it–they’ve done it on their terms. They haven’t always done it because sometimes there’s not enough time, or there is bad weather, or other factors.

What do you think of the new facial recognition technology and the wireless devices (that allow security to do random spot check of passengers and cars and run their information through crime databases instantly) that have recently been implemented in Boston Logan and other airports?

These things were coming. They are going to come a whole lot faster now. The more tools you have, the better security should work. The more tools you have, the better job you can do. As a way of making the job better, it makes sense.

How long do you think you’ll remain in aviation security?

If I thought things were better and different because of what we’ve done, I would feel like I could go on with my life and do something else. But I don’t yet think things are better and I don’t yet see that path I want to see.