Airport security federalization plan ramps up

Assessment teams will arrive at airports across the country over the next two weeks as the Transportation Security Administration steps up its efforts to federalize airport security operations and meet a Dec. 31 deadline for screening checked baggage for explosives.

"There are a lot of steps to the process," TSA Deputy Undersecretary Stephen McHale said at a press conference Tuesday. "When we say an airport is federalized may be different from what the public's perception is."

During the past few months, TSA, which was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, has used Baltimore-Washington International Airport to study security operations, test explosive-detection equipment and train security managers. Using the information gleaned in that process, the agency has authorized Lockheed Martin to send teams to 120 airports by July 7 to assess how much space is available for new screening machines and to gauge how many are needed.

The first teams will report June 23 to 23 airports, including those in Erie, Pa.; Bangor, Maine; Richmond, Va.; Grand Forks, N.D; Palm Springs, Calif.; and South Bend, Ind.

"We now have the necessary tools to proceed," said TSA chief John Magaw. The first 23 teams will focus on reconfiguring airport passenger lines, adding new security technologies and supporting the transition from private baggage screeners to a workforce of federal screeners. Federal employees will begin screening baggage at airports in Louisville, Ky. and Mobile, Ala., next week.

TSA is recruiting screeners at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Newark International Airport in New Jersey; Logan International Airport in Boston; and Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. According to McHale, TSA screeners will begin showing up at more checkpoints beginning in late July. Training new screeners takes five weeks.

"The local approach is to recruit screeners for each airport. Once they are hired, they will be trained," said Gale Rossides, TSA's associate undersecretary for training and quality assurance. "The training is a combination of classroom training with both practical exercises and final exams…. At the end they will get on-the-job training. It's an aggressive schedule…. We're confident we're going to get there."

Five airports will participate in a private security screening pilot program, to test the ability of contractors to achieve federal performance levels for screeners. TSA will soon begin soliciting bids from screening companies to participate in the two-year program.