U.S. airport workers will get more security checks, a government agency said, a month after an airport employee allegedly took a bag of guns onto a flight.
Physical screenings will increase, and more cameras and fingerprint scanners will be deployed, the Transportation Security Administration announced yesterday in Washington. "This will improve security," said Kip Hawley, who leads the agency.
The agency and airports are trying to head off a congressional push to require that all 800,000 people employed at airports get physically screened each time they go to work. Mr. Hawley and airport leaders said at a news conference that such a screening requirement would be impractical.
A March 5 incident at Florida's Orlando International Airport -- in which a worker with 13 handguns, an assault rifle and marijuana took a flight to Puerto Rico before being stopped -- shows the need for 100 percent screening, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., recently asserted.
Mr. Hawley' announcement marks the second time he has moved to step up security since the Orlando incident. On March 13, he said he had deployed 160 security officers to five Florida airports to randomly screen workers and take other steps.
Airports supporting Mr. Hawley's approach plan to help the agency conduct physical inspections, train employees to spot suspicious behavior and create more rigorous, voluntary background checks.
"We know what we're doing isn't enough," said Chip Barclay, president of the American Association of Airport Executives in Alexandria, Va. "We want to do more."
Mr. Hawley said physically screening each airport worker would cost an additional $1 billion a year. Airport executives said such screening could disrupt operations, as some workers must cross checkpoints several times each day to do their jobs.
Ms. Lowey introduced legislation March 8 to require that workers with access to secure airport areas be held to the same standard as passengers.
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., who co-authored Ms. Lowey's proposal, jointly wrote an opinion piece with Ms. Lowey posted April 10 on the Orlando Sentinel's Web site. "Americans would never settle for random or temporary screening of passengers," the lawmakers wrote. "Why should we hold workers to a lower standard?"
