Nov. 22--A U.S. Tranportation Security Administration plan to pull officers from airport checkpoint exit lanes could cost the Memphis airport as much as $700,000 a year, airport officials say.
The TSA's budget-motivated directive, scheduled to affect Memphis International Airport starting Feb. 3, would put the Airport Authority in charge of policing exit lanes at three checkpoints.
The airport board voted Thursday to join a planned lawsuit that would challenge the TSA move on procedural grounds. General counsel Brian Kuhn said legal fees have been estimated at about $10,000 per airport that becomes a named plaintiff in the case. The lawsuit by 12 to 15 airports would focus on TSA's process in changing the rule in October without sufficient notice.
Legislative history is "pretty strong" that exit lanes are TSA responsibility, Kuhn told the board.
Airport chief operating officer Scott Brockman said in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a newly created TSA insisted exit lanes were within its jurisdiction. The airport removed equipment designed to keep people from entering the concourse and gate areas through exit lanes.
The TSA rule change came before a Nov. 1 incident at Los Angeles International Airport in which an armed man assaulted TSA officers at a checkpoint.
The Los Angeles incident, which left an officer dead and two wounded, prompted a TSA review of checkpoint security procedures.
In 2010, Newark Liberty International Airport was shut down for hours after a Rutgers University student entered the secure area through an exit lane to kiss his girlfriend goodbye.
TSA said the change would help the agency save $88 million in the current fiscal year by trimming the equivalent of 1,500 full-time workers. The agency pointed out that two-thirds of airports already provide their own exit lane security.
The American Association of Airport Executives, which plans to mount a legal challenge along with the Airports Council International, says the change would affect 350 exit lanes at 145 airports and could cost airports a collective $200 million a year.
If the rule change stands, the airport would have to staff exit lanes for two shifts each day, adding to the budget for airport police. "It's basically a cost-shifting we can't afford," Brockman said.
The exit lanes could be outfitted with gates, doors, turnstiles or other equipment that block access by unauthorized people, but it's unclear whether the area could be left unstaffed.
Copyright 2013 - The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
