Airport Workers to be Eyes of TSA
WASHINGTON -- Airport employees will be trained to spot hostile behavior and given incentives to report their suspicions about fellow workers under a plan aimed at tightening security at the nation's 452 commercial airports and preventing incidents such as the gun-smuggling one at Orlando International Airport.
Administrator Kip Hawley of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that the strategy was intended to be "nimble, flexible, mobile, and, above all, dynamic" as well as provide better overall security.
He said the plan, which also will include creating another level of employee scrutiny, random employee screenings and roving security patrols, will be developed during the next 90 days and introduced in a phased rollout.
Some members of Congress had renewed calls to screen every airport employee -- as is done for passengers -- after the arrests earlier this year of workers at OIA who allegedly used their security badges to smuggle guns and drugs aboard planes bound for Puerto Rico.
Hawley said screening passengers for dangerous objects is different from spotting security threats among employees because workers have access to areas where potential weapons, such as fuel, tools and guns in checked luggage, are available.
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, said the TSA proposal does not go far enough and could be an attempt to draw attention from today's hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on her bill to start a 100 percent employee-screening program at five airports.
"I've heard promises from TSA before," she said. "TSA is dragging their feet. Checking them [employees] every day is the only way."
Since the smuggling incident, OIA has started a new screening program for employees. But workers at most airports, such as maintenance workers and caterers, are not screened every time they enter a secure area.
Hawley said he doesn't know yet what his plan will cost, or how much of it will be borne by the private sector. Screening all workers at the nation's airports would cost in the billions.
Hawley and Chip Barclay, head of the American Association of Airport Executives, said the new training can be done quickly. Adding iris scans or other biometrics to identification cards will take longer. Biometrics that include a chip that shows where a worker is at the moment, Hawley said, might be able to tell security whether someone was in an area he or she was not authorized to enter.
Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.
