The US Transportation Department has started selecting Federal Security Directors, one for each of the nation's 429 airports. The first appointments include retired Navy Admiral Isaac Richardson to head security at Chicago-O'Hare and retired Marine Brigadier General Mike Aguilar to head security at San Diego. The DoT is sorting through 9,200 applications for the jobs. Full flight operations will resume at Reagan National Airport on 15 April, still under the tightest security in the country. The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that the relief pilot of Egypt Air 990 crashed the plane deliberately in October 99, rejecting an Egyptian theory that a control system failure might have been the cause.--Stephen V Cole