predicted? we ll take a closer look at that in our next hour right here. new questions about safety in the sky as we learn president obama s 2013 budget will slash funding to train and armed pilots on planes. that would cut what some are calling a last line of defense against would be terrorists. catherine herridge has more live in washington. reporter: thank you, megyn, good afternoon. homeland security officials argue that they use a multibraced approach to security with redundancies built into the system. there is 100% screening of all passengers and cargo, reinforced cockpit doors and intelligence data on passengers. this is part of the intelligence based approach which focuses on high-risk attacks with the greatest consequence. homeland security secretary recently testifying in favor of these cuts to the federal flight deck officer s program, it s also known as the ffdo. i think the reduction for the
federal flight deck officer program is predicated on the fact that the program is not risk based, and you will have an ffdo just, you know, whether somebody is on a flight or not, and we are moving in the tsa to risk-based systems and those are the ones we ll put money into. reporter: there is strong opposition 4 morning at the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank in washington. panelis argued gwynn a budget cut of 50% at one point suggesting this white house believes terrorism is a thing of the past. the obama administration has had an institutional hostility towards the concept of arming pilots, and spefg th specifically the ffdo program since the beginning. reporter: they say it provides a safety net at a reasonable price costing less than checking your suitcase. according to estimates ffdo s only cost $15 per flight