U.S. airport screening gets shake-up

WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- Some 160 additional airport security screeners have been sent to airports in Florida and Puerto Rico to randomly check airport workers, a report said.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration made the move after two Comair airline employees were arrested in Orlando, Fla., last week and charged with smuggling guns and marijuana onboard a jet bound for San Juan.

There are an estimated 900,000 airport workers with security clearance for boarding aircraft and entering secure areas, and the extra screeners will be making random checks of workers at airports in San Juan, Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, USA Today reported.

Last week, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., renewed her call in Congress for the TSA to screen all employees at five airports in a six-month test program. She first raised the issue in 2004 when workers at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were caught smuggling drugs.