"Screening machine deadline criticized"

Thursday, June 27, 2002 

Screening machine deadline criticized
Springfield-Branson Regional Airport not evaluated yet.
By Steve Koehler
The Springfield (MO) News-Leader


The director of the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport says the rush
to meet new federal airport security mandates is doing more harm than
good.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," said Rob Hancik, the
airport's director, about current passenger delays.

And he lays the problem at the feet of the newly created federal
Transportation Security Administration, assigned to oversee security at
all the nation's commercial airports.

"This thing is in turmoil," Hancik said about the TSA. "The agency isn't
up and running except for a few people. There are no federal employees
here."

But Deirdre O'Sullivan, spokesperson for the Transportation Security
Administration, said Hancik is wrong.

"We reject that characterization (of being in turmoil)," she said from
her Washington, D.C., office.

"We started Jan. 28 with a staff of 13. Now, we have 3,000 employees.
We've had to get staff. We have people manning the phones."

In addition to losing authority over security guards, who are being
federalized, Hancik's biggest rub is with the federal government's
demand that airports install sophisticated baggage screening equipment
by the end of the year.

The changes are in response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade
Center last September.

In January, Congress created the TSA and charged it with getting better
passenger screeners and have all baggage screened for explosives by the
end of the year.

Hancik says the mandates are creating delays and other problems at the
airports.

Anyone with a complaint about delays in getting through security, Hancik
said, should direct their complaints to the TSA.

"Airports and airplanes have nothing to do with it. People are
complaining about the process and the time it takes," Hancik said. "Air
travelers need to understand that all of it has been taken over by the
federal government."

The TSA took over the contracts of all private security agencies working
at airports and will eventually hire and train new guards.

A spokesman for Wakenhut Security Co., which handles security at
Springfield-Branson Regional Airport, would not comment on the company's
status.

O'Sullivan said new guards will receive 100 hours of classroom and
on-the-job training.

"We want to make the transition (of guards) as seamless as possible,"
she said.

"Passengers should see new uniforms at the gates and that's all. (The
guards) are there to give world-class customer service and world-class
security."

Passenger delays have been reported at Springfield by those who have
undergone individual searches of themselves or their carry-on baggage.

Lisa Powell, co-owner of Sunshine travel, said some of her customers
"are aggravated by the whole thing."

"The delays are making them decide not to travel right now. It's a
hassle, but if they want to go someplace, that's what they have to do or
not go to as many places," she said.

"There's a lot of waiting around. It's putting people off from doing a
lot of trips. They're not as willing to get on an airplane."

Hancik called what's going on at the security gates "interesting."

"Everyone from a 7-year-old to a 90-year-old is subjected to a number of
successive searches of their persons and purses. I question the
credibility of doing that," he said.

But Judy Roberts with House of Travel said she hasn't received many
complaints from customers.

"Since TWA and American Airlines merged, things have been a little more
busy at the airport. Things are stacked up and there is some waiting,"
she said. "But they know to go out early and they don't have a problem
with that."

Many airport directors, like Hancik, have a problem with what's
happening inside their airports. A May 29 letter from the Airport
Alliance, representing about 40 airports in the country, including
Springfield, was signed and sent to Secretary of Transportation Norman
Y. Mineta, asking him to delay the deadline to have equipment in place
to screen all baggage for explosives.

"We ... believe it is impracticable in the next (six) months to procure
sufficient machines and hire and train the necessary personnel to meet
the 10-minute standard for passenger and baggage screening," the letter
stated.

Ballis Bell, director of airports for Wichita, Kan., who also signed the
letter, said the screening and security laws are "well intentioned but
do not realize what really needed to be done to do the job right."

Bell said the alliance believes it's going to be a waste of money and
time if the government rushes into the project. He said systems already
are in place to screen baggage for explosives.

"We don't talk about it but there are systems, sampling systems and
profiling systems. They are not 100 percent search situations which is
what Congress wants," he said.

The new provisions call for airports to install explosives detection
equipment, costing upward of $1 million, by Dec. 31.

Springfield, ranking 134th out of almost 500 commercial aviation
airports in the country, is behind the larger airports in getting the
equipment.

Hancik isn't sure what the costs will be for installing the machines and
remodeling the airport to make room for the equipment. The federal
government is expected to pick up most of the cost for the equipment,
although travelers already pay a $2.50 per leg of flight fee for
security.

"There are no estimates because I don't know what we're going to get,
yet," he said.

O'Sullivan said two different types of baggage screening machines will
be used. With one, the baggage will be put in the machine and screened.
With the other, the luggage will be swiped by hand. Which system
Springfield will get hasn't been determined. Representatives from the
Boeing Corp. have been hired by TSA to assess airports and determine
which system should be installed.

"The majority of airports will have some hybrid of both systems,"
O'Sullivan said. 

Still, the agency is keeping its eye on the Dec. 31 deadline and doesn't
appear to be wavering from it.

"Congress has given us a deadline and we are working toward that," she
said. "TSA is working diligently to meet that deadline."

Hancik doesn't believe it can be done. Springfield has not been assessed
and no one at the airport has been notified of an upcoming visit from
Boeing with just six months left to meet the deadline.

"It's impossible to get it all in place by the end of the year," he
said.


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