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TSA administrator tells Congress the plan to allow small knives on planes will be implemented

WASHINGTON - The head of the Transportation Security Administration says the agency will allow passengers to carry small knives onto planes despite a backlash against the proposal.
Joan Lowy
NY108-14_2010_122836_high.jpg
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration鈥檚 new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

WASHINGTON - The head of the Transportation Security Administration says the agency will allow passengers to carry small knives onto planes despite a backlash against the proposal.

TSA Administrator John Pistole told the a House committee on Thursday that he doesn't believe small folding knives would enable a terrorist to take over a plane and that finding and eliminating them is time-consuming.

Pistole says that screeners find 2,000 small knives a day on passengers or in their carry-on bags, with each incident requiring two to three minutes to deal with.

Several lawmakers at the hearing say they don't see much difference between the knives and the box cutters used by 9-11 terrorists.