FAA screening 'weak link' in airport security

Federal aviation offiicials are taking a closer look at airport security provided by firms hired by airlines.

From Patty Davis
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is about to set new certification standards for airport security companies, and Congress is considering a federal takeover of airports’ security to make the nation’s skies safer, authorities say.

The scrutiny of airport safety is the latest response to terrorist attacks in Washington and New York, and follows a series of changes put into effect immediately after terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners on September 11.

Following the hijackings, the FAA ordered a ban on all knives in carry-on bags, an end to curb-side baggage check-in and said only ticketed passengers would be allowed past security.

VIDEO CNN's Patty Davis reports on the concern over airport security following terrorist attacks in the United States (September 17) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

It is also bringing in law enforcement officers from other agencies to reinforce its federal air marshal program.

But some aviation experts wonder if those changes are enough. A key element of security, they say, is the estimated 18,000 people who staff airport metal detectors and X-ray machines.

"This system is not a good one -- it’s like a Swiss cheese. We all know this," airline consultant Darryl Jenkins said Tuesday. "I don't think any of us would congratulate ourselves or anyone else who is involved in airport security for the job we have done over the last 10 years."

Tests by the FAA and the General Accounting Office underscore Jenkins’ assessment. The agencies found problems with security screenings long before the hijackings.

Last year, the GAO gave undercover operatives fake law enforcement credentials and sent them to two major airports. None was stopped by security, the GAO found.

The latest security measures also proved less than foolproof, as officials at the airport in Phoenix, Arizona, learned last week. Responding to tightened security practices, screeners collected numerous knives from carry-on luggage, but two Northwest Airlines crew members, who were carrying a corkscrew and a knife, were able to pass through without detection.

The lowest bidder

Screeners at the airport in Phoenix, Arizona, collected numerous knives from carry-on luggage when flights returned to the skies Thursday.

Airlines, responsible for staffing security checkpoints, contract the work out to other companies, keeping an eye on their bottom line, aviation experts say.

"The airlines are the ones that put the bids out, and the airlines are the ones that make the decision and I can tell you that routinely, they take the lowest bidder," said Tom Balanoff, international vice president of the Service Employees International Union.

Security screeners at many airports often made less money than fast-food workers in the terminals, leading to high turnover rates at some facilities, the GAO learned.

For example, the St. Louis, Missouri, airport had a 400 percent turnover in security screeners in the fiscal year ending in April 1999, the GAO found. The airport in Atlanta, Georgia, had a 375 percent turnover over the same period, investigators reported.

By comparison, said Balanoff, the annual turnover rate at Belgium’s airport is 5 percent; at Manchester, England, it is 1 percent.

The difference, according to Balanoff: higher wages and better insurance.

Turnover is not the only concern, as an FAA inquiry into security operations at the airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, showed last year.

The agency learned that employees with Argenbright Security, the largest provider of security at U.S. airports, had criminal records. The offenses included convictions for kidnappings, drug dealing and aggravated assault, investigators found. Argenbright pleaded guilty last year to allowing untrained employees to work at checkpoints, as well as hiring criminals. It agreed to pay fines totaling $1.2 million, according to The Associated Press.

The company, based in Atlanta, provides security at two airports the hijackers used -- Washington's Dulles, where the plane that crashed into the Pentagon took off, and the Newark, New Jersey, airport where airliner that crashed in western Pennsylvania originated.

Argenbright declined comment to CNN.

The renewed emphasis on security is welcome, said Mary Schiavo, the FAA’s former inspector general. She supports a heightened federal role in making airports safer.

"What we need is a national coordinated federal law enforcement oversight of airports because we are only as safe as our weakest link," she said.