WARWICK, R.I. (AP) -- When parking lots fill up at T.F. Green Airport, the state Airport Corporation opens a gate to the airfield, sets up portable lights and generators, and uses space inside the secure perimeter for overflow parking.
Security experts say the situation, which cars separated from the main runway by only a row of orange cones, raises concerns.
The Airport Corporation, however, insists the area is secure because the police are watching it.
Kathleen Sweet, a retired Air Force colonel and author of several books on airport security, told The Providence Journal, ''You can't have people having access to the flight line, for safety reasons as well as security reasons.''
Using an airfield as a parking lot potentially exposes flights to the dangers posed by ''a prankster, let alone a terrorist,'' she said.
Rafi Ron, an internationally known consultant hired to improve security at Logan International Airport after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said the arrangement at Green Airport is ''not a preferred solution'' to a parking crunch.
''The public's interest is to see that this problem will be solved at some point,'' he said. Until then, the corporation should consider containing the parked vehicles with concrete jersey barriers instead of traffic cones, he said.
Joseph Salter, the federal Transportation Security Administration's top official at Green, said the practice is ''in compliance with the airport security plan at this time.''
''There are safeguards in place, and if there weren't we would have a problem,'' Salter said.
Patti Goldstein, the corporation's vice president for public affairs, said airport police are stationed in the overflow parking area until midnight, and later if an inbound scheduled flight has been delayed.
