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Tampa airport screening plan raises alarm

Checking workers repeatedly each day is called "totally unworkable."

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published March 2, 2007

Airport workers nationwide receive background checks, have their names run through lists of known terrorists and now are subject to random security screenings on the job.

Is that enough to protect the flying public against "the inside threat"?

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill say there's still too great a risk that workers could use insider jobs to skirt security and help carry out a terrorist attack.

The House Homeland Security Committee is working on legislation that would require a handful of airports to test screening all employees before they're allowed into secured areas.

That idea has set off alarms among airport officials. Requiring screening of bag handlers, gate agents and others who regularly work behind the scenes would slow operations to a crawl, they say.

"Some employees move between secure and unsecure areas as many as 50 times a day," says Louis Miller, executive director at Tampa International Airport. "It's totally unworkable."

On Thursday, the Transportation Security Administration briefed reporters in Tampa on a nationwide program of random screenings of airport employees as they enter places off-limits to the public.

Since November, teams of TSA agents at Tampa International have set up checkpoints unannounced behind doors to secure areas, at gates to the airfield and even on the tarmac as crews load baggage.

Agents give workers the same treatment as passengers pulled aside for extra scrutiny: the once-over with a hand-held metal detector, a body pat-down and check of their shoes.

"We believe there's a real insider threat," said Dario Compain, the federal chief of security at Tampa International. "What we're adding is one more barrier to terrorists."

Agents have screened more than 6,300 workers at Tampa International since November, he said. They haven't found any weapons or illegal items, said Compain, but did pick out mechanic's tools and other items not allowed through airport security.

Requiring workers to undergo screenings each day would be overkill and could slow down lines for passengers, said Greg Principato, president of trade group Airports Council International/North America.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com  or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 23:13:03]