CHANGING THE SECURITY FOCUS
A look at changes in airport security at MSP, Quad City Int’l
By Lindsay M. Hitch, Assistant Editor
November/December 2001
The diverting and subsequent grounding of airplanes in U.S. airspace on September 11 was an exercise in adaptivity for airport security personnel and programs. Making the job even harder: inconsistent communication on new requirements from FAA to large vs. small airports, inadequate staff for increased demands, and the struggle to coordinate effective security tactics.
"We went at least two days without any official notification from
FAA as to what’s going on," says Mike Haney, director of operations
at the Quad City International Airport in Moline, IL. "We heard from
the news when it started and then from the air traffic control tower that
planes were coming in.
"Now, I realize the FAA had their hands
full, and it’s certainly a big job they’ve never done before,
but ... there were never any definite instructions."
FINDING STAFF
Restricting Retail
Increasing terminal and aircraft
security has led to new mandates on what’s allowed in concessions
areas.
Bonnie Wilson, vice president of airport
facilities and services for Airports Council International - North
America (ACI-NA), says that airport concessions are under a system-wide
mandate restricting knives. There are a few exceptions, Wilson explains.
"If an employee has a demonstrated need for a bladed instrument
beyond screening it can be accommodated, but otherwise it is prohibited
nationwide."
The Quad City Airport’s main restaurant
and retail shop are located landside, reducing the threat of items
from airside concessions jeopardizing airport and aircraft security.
Haney says that plastic knives are allowed in the airside deli, and
special care has been taken to reduce the need for metal blades in
the deli’s kitchen.
The public safety department at the Quad
City Airport handles fire protection and law enforcement support. On a
typical day, three or four officers would be on duty, says Haney. And
two of those officers are responsible for a "three-minute" fire
truck, making them unavailable for other duties.
According to Haney, FAA has asked the airport
for two or three officers stationed on the curb to monitor cars, one near
the screening checkpoint, one walking through the lobby, one walking through
the concourse, increased patrols around the airport, and more law enforcement
personnel on the ramp.
"It’s just so difficult to try
to have [a law enforcement officer] present in as many places as they’re
asking when you’re a small airport like we are," says Haney.
Office and field maintenance staff have been recruited to monitor the
curb and other areas for the time-being.
Mark Rosenow, commander of the Airport Police
Department at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, says that
the airport reverted to "Incident Command’ shortly after the
terrorist attacks.
"Off-duty personnel were recalled;
vacations and days off were cancelled. Police officers were put on 12-hour
shifts. An increase in uniform presence was quickly achieved through the
use of police investigators who normally work in plainclothes. Additional
uniformed personnel were assigned to the front of the terminal, the ticketing
area, and screening checkpoints. Firefighters also increased their presence
in the terminals," says Rosenow.
VERIFYING PERSONNEL
Rosenow says that FAA issued new emergency
amendments and security directives nearly every day. As the airport security
coordinator, it was his responsibility to see those directives put into
effect. The Airport Security Consortium, which normally meets once per
quarter, met every day in the days following September 11.
The Minneapolis Airports Commission (MAC)
was required to check the FBI’s watch list against its database of
security ID badge holders within 72 hours, and all security identification
media was to be revalidated within 14 days. Rosenow says that MAC personnel
revalidated over 11,000 employee badges in six days — a process that
ordinarily would take six weeks and months of preparation.
Access doors onto the Air Operations Area
were reduced from 51 to seven at Minneapolis/St. Paul. And to comply with
an FAA emergency amendment, says Rosenow, the security ID badge of each
person entering the AOA was physically checked.
PARKING IMPAIRED
Airport parking has been a customer convenience
issue for airports through the years. The goal in the past was to allow
as many people as possible to park as close to the terminal as possible.
With the FAA mandate to have all threats from parked vehicles at least
300 feet from the terminal building, airports are scrambling to mitigate
those threats and allow passengers to park within 300 feet.
At MSP, the four parking structures are
surrounded on three sides by the airport’s concourses, well within
300 feet. The airport was initially required to close two of the four
ramps and discontinue valet parking. Rosenow says that the parking facilities
provide more annual revenue than landing fees and their reopening was
a prime concern. Through the use of barriers and new striping, Rosenow
reports that 80 percent of ramp space is now available for use.
Bonnie Wilson, vice president of airport
facilities and services for Airports Council International - North America
(ACI-NA), says the first step in regaining parking space is determining
the potential harm from a blast — how much energy would have to be
transmitted from the site of the charge to the building to cause damage.
There are quite a few options for threat mitigation, including changing
terminal building materials, reinforcing glass, and building blast barriers.
Wilson warns that with blast barriers, it is important to know in which
direction the barriers would redirect the force and energy of a blast.
Another alternative would be establishing inspection procedures to ensure
that cars within 300 feet of the terminal do not contain any explosives,
says Wilson.
THE WAITING GAME
For Haney, the biggest inconvenience is
not knowing how much longer the period of uncertainty will last. Prior
to September 11, Haney had been planning to attend an October briefing
on the new FAR Parts 107/108. Subsequently, those meetings were cancelled
and Haney remains uncertain about the requirements of those regulations
as well.
"We don’t know what they’re
going to do. Zero tolerance comes with a high price, and I guess we’re
going to find out what that price is," says Haney.
Wilson says that FAA will have to make a
decision to keep or scrap the new Parts 107/108 by November 14, the date
the regulations go into effect. She expects that FAA will keep the new
regulations but will alter some of the implementation timelines included
in the documents. For instance, the deadline for the requirement to retrain
the airport security coordinator (ASC) may be moved forward, while other
requirements may be pushed back.