The more than 30,000 screeners of airline passengers and their carry-on luggage will be "screened" themselves when they become federal employees, as a result of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.
In addition to installing explosive detection systems to screen all checked bags for explosives, the newly created Transportation Security Administration must screen and provide more training for the country's airport screeners by the end of the year.
For years, the Federal Aviation Administration was criticized for how it handled its dual mission of promoting the airline industry and regulating its safety and security. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, however, Congress created the new federal agency and made it responsible for airline and airport security.
"Congress finally gave up on the FAA dealing with security," an aviation security specialist, who asked not to be identified, told United Press International. "While the airlines complained about the added cost of security, they wanted to retain control of it because that way they could make sure it wouldn't interfere with their schedules.
"Part of the problem is that the flying public is not organized and the airlines are incredibly organized and that makes a difference in the insider politics inside the beltway. The other part (of the problem) is that they'll take the same people from the FAA and move them to the new agency," he said.
On Jan. 7, President George W. Bush signed the recess appointment of John Magaw to be undersecretary of transportation for security and to head the Transportation Security Administration. Magaw was the acting executive director of the Office of National Preparedness within the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He also has been the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the director of the Secret Service.
One of Magaw's biggest tasks will be to federalize the screeners who currently are working for private security firms hired by the airlines. The airlines built the cost of security into their fare structure but the Aviation and Transportation Security Act changed that and made all airline and airport security a federal function paid for by the taxpayer, and by a ticket surcharge of $2.50 per one-way ticket and $5.00 for a round-trip ticket.
The screeners will be paid salaries of about $35,000 a year, a big jump from their current pay, which was barely above minimum wage. According to the Department of Transportation, "The new security force will be comprised of highly qualified and well-trained U.S. citizens."
Under the new legislation the screeners must: have a high school diploma, a G.E.D. or have one year's experience working as a screener; be a U.S. citizen; pass a background check, including a criminal records check; pass a medical examination demonstrating the ability to discern colors displayed on screening equipment and hear alarms; and be able to read, speak and write English well enough to carry out written and oral instructions regarding the proper performance of screening duties, including reading credentials, tickets and labels.
"By requiring U.S. citizenship, the large airports in New York City and other large cities will lose quite a few of their screeners. But because the pay will now be higher than $6 an hour, they'll have an easier time hiring people," Glenn Johnson, of the Victims of Pan Am 103 told UPI. "A lot of the screeners will be new as a result of the new law. Because the turnover is so high, many will not have one year's experience."
However, current employees will be allowed to continue in their jobs until they are replaced with federal employees, after which they may apply for a screener position. The screener applicants also will have to undergo random drug and alcohol testing and pass a federal civil aviation security screener aptitude test. They also will get two weeks training instead of the current three days.
While raising the qualifications and the pay of the screeners is expected to enhance airport security, some feel people with law enforcement experience should be hired.
"Airport security should follow the model already in place from the past 15 years in the federal courthouse system -- former people in law enforcement screen people entering the courthouse," Murray Levine, former vice president of South Florida for Wackenhut Security, told UPI. "They are subcontracted employees, but they have law enforcement experience and are trained in the U.S. Marshals Academy. A similar system should be used in the airports."
While the screeners are trained to detect weapons, they are not trained to screen out passengers based on their behavior as U.S. Customs agents and U.S. Immigration agents are.
"But, even if they were able to pull people out for more questioning, there is no one to hand them off to, no one to question a suspicious passenger further," Johnson said. "We're requiring passengers to be more alert, to pay more attention, but are we requiring that of our screeners?"
In addition to federalizing the screeners, the new law requires: the deployment of federal air marshals on domestic flights, guidelines to strengthen cockpit doors and protect pilots, crew and passengers, and the creation of an Aviation Oversight Board that will coordinate intelligence-gathering information among federal agencies.
But Levine said the weak link in airport security is the airport itself or those who work in the airport.
"In some airports everyone who works in the Starbucks and the other food venders are not screened for criminal background checks or 'watch lists' and while some must go to work through the same screening process that passengers do, in some airports they don't," Levine said. "What airports don't check is the shipments into the airports. So someone could smuggle weapons in with the coffee. Those who refuel and have access to a plane also don't get criminal background checks and they don't have to go through the screening process to get to work every day."
