Wartofsky, who has been a vocal and passionate spokesman on the security measures that have been imposed on his facility and the Washington area in general, said the closure of his airport cleared the way for a broader discussion of the security issues in the capital area. Although he said he couldn’t discuss specifics, Wartofsky said the closure has illuminated some more rational approaches to making the system work for all interested parties. “Issues have been brought before a broader spectrum of people who should have known about them before,” he said. He also said it sometimes takes an incident like the airport closure to get people thinking about alternatives to the status quo. “These kinds of insights only come from stirring the pot,” he said. Wartofsky said the TSA’s security requirements are based on the hurriedly assembled security provisions that were “slapped together” in the days following 9/11. Since then, he said, experience has shown operators within the Washington security net better ways to achieve seemingly mutually exclusive objectives. “There are elements of it that are essential to maintaining capital airspace security and freedom that were not in that original document,” he said. Wartofsky said he’s hopeful the various agencies can eventually agree to a revised set of regulations that make it easier for everyone, including pilots and the businesses that serve them.
