Public Matters

TSA Administrator John Pistole is so far sticking by, no pun intended, his decision to allow knives with retractable blades measuring less than 2.36 inches and narrower than a half-inch as carry-on items aboard U.S. commercial air flights. The change would bring the United States in line with international rules.

Confronted with outcries from the Flight Attendants Union Coalition, representing 90,000 members, a petition with 400,000 signatures and other protests, Pistole says he is still considering, but not ready to concede.

Why? Because he wants the TSA to be able to focus more on IEDs instead of screening for pocket knives and such.

"With hardened cockpit doors, better identification of individual passengers against terrorist watch lists, and the demonstrated willingness of passengers to intervene to assist flight crew during a security incident, it is the judgment of many security experts worldwide, a judgment with which I agree, that a small pocket knife is simply not going to result in the catastrophic failure of an aircraft," he said at an airport security conference this week in Saudi Arabia.

The knife rule change was supposed to take effect in April, but was postponed after the outcry.

The International Civil Aviation Organization in 2010 decided to allow small knives on board. "Since that global change, and excluding U.S. originating passengers, there have been more than 5 billion commercial airline passengers worldwide allowed to carry these knives," reported Pistole, in a report from Government Security News.  "We are unaware of any report of a security incident aboard any commercial aircraft worldwide involving these items."

Meanwhile, the TSA reported that it surpassed its record of firearm seizures at airport security checkpoints this week. Sixty-five guns were found, 54 of which were loaded, including a .22-caliber gun strapped to passenger's prosthetic leg in Salt Lake City.

The trial of three protesters, including an elderly nun, who allegedly broke into the Y-12 nuclear weapons site in Tennessee last summer, has been reassigned to a federal judge in Kentucky, according to knoxnews.com.

U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips was supposed to preside at the trial, scheduled for May 7. Phillips, however, was planning to retire. A filing last week indicated the case had been reassigned to a judge with the Eastern District of Kentucky. It has not been disclosed whether the current trial date still stands.

Plowshares protesters Sister Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli each face three felony charges related to the break-in and defacing of government facilities at the Oak Ridge site.

Meanwhile, G4S Government Solutions, which was on duty at Y-12 when the breach occurred, said it is ready to move past the "punishment stage and work to restore its image," according to Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground.

G4S lost its security contract following the breach and more recently lost its other major Department of Energy contract in Oak Ridge (for protective force services at ORNL, East Tennessee Technology Park and the Federal Building), Munger's report said.

"A lesson for everyone in all aspects of both physical and protective force security is what we now internally refer to as the 20/20 rule," President and CEO Paul Donahue said in a statement. "Within 20 minutes, 20 million hours of exceptional protective force support at Y-12 was wiped away."

Last week, G4S security officers received a British Security Industry Association's Award for Best Regional Team (South West) for their work at the Hinkley Point C nuclear building site in Somerset. The regional award makes G4S eligible for a national award. G4S has won six BSIA regional awards this year, according to a prepared statement.

Employees and visitors entering three federal buildings in Boston last week were no doubt surprised to learn that for the first time in years they needn't take off their shoes, coats or belts to pass through security screening.

It happened "without any fanfare or news conferences," according to a report from WGBH. What did happen was that the Federal Protective Service, which is responsible for protecting employees, contractors and visitors at federal facilities, decided, after studying the Boston sites, to use the Thomas P. O'Neill Building, John F. Kennedy Federal Building and John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse in a pilot project that could streamline and standardize similar screening processes nationwide.

The O'Neill building houses Homeland Security, Secret Service, Social Security and the Deparments of Justice, Labor, Agriculture, Commerce, Housing, Treasury and Small Business.

"It has not become official yet, but it is an option being tested, " Jacqueline Yost, chief public affairs for FPS, told WGBH.  "We are continually assessing our process ... to make sure we continue to be as efficient as possible while securing federal facilities, employees and guests."

Fourteen years ago, a survey of gun owners found that most respondents cited hunting as their main reason for owning a weapon. This year, the Pew Research Center finds, the vast majority of owners say they own a gun because it makes them feel safer.

The 1999 survey said 49 percent of gun owners cited hunting as their primary reason for owning a gun, followed by protection, 26 percent. Sport shooting, collections and other categories made up for the rest.

In Pew's February 2013 survey of 1,504 adults, hunting and protection as reasons have changed places. Protection was cited by 48 percent of the respondents; hunting, 32 percent.

The latest survey also asked why non-gun owners don't want to have one in their homes; opinions on stricter gun control laws; the effectiveness of stricter gun control laws; whether states should be able to ignore federal gun laws; if stricter laws would reduce the number of mass shootings; and more. It looks as partisan differences as well.

Lots of good information. You can read all of the results here.