"Rochester security chief sets up shop"

Wednesday, October 2, 2002

Security chief sets up shop
Federal airport safety office here has list of urgent to-dos
By Steve Orr 
The Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle 


In January, the newly formed U.S. Transportation Security Administration
had just 13 employees nationwide. 

Today it has 40,000. 

"It's kind of a start-up mentality," said David Bassett as he was
introduced Tuesday as the federal agency's new point person in
Rochester. 

A week into his job as the chief of security at Greater Rochester
International Airport, Bassett is scrambling to find office space, hire
a staff and make progress on a daunting list of tasks that must be
accomplished by year's end. 

"Things are in a dynamic state," Bassett said. 

The Transportation Security Administration and the title that Bassett
holds here -- federal security director -- were created in November by
Congress in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

The agency's primary job, so far, has been to appoint security directors
to cover each of the nation's 429 airports, and to hire and train
thousands of employees to screen air passengers and baggage. 

In Rochester, however, the hiring of screeners has been delayed because
the airport is one of five selected for a national test of
private-sector workers, not federal employees. 

Within two weeks, Bassett said, the TSA should announce the private
company selected to employ the screeners here and at the four other
airports taking part in the pilot program. 

That company will be expected to hire and train its screeners by Nov.
19, a deadline set by Congress. Bassett will oversee that process in
Rochester. About 100 screeners, employed by private companies under
short-term contract with the TSA, now work at the Rochester airport. 

Bassett also is working with federally funded consultants on a plan to
implement explosives-screening of checked baggage by a Dec. 31 deadline.
The consultants have done an assessment, he said, but no final plan has
been approved. 

In Rochester, the TSA will have a staff of 20 to 30 people. Bassett also
oversees airports in Binghamton, Ithaca and Elmira. 

Bassett, 40, is a U.S. Navy veteran who worked in the private sector,
largely in sales for technology companies, for the last dozen years.

Attached Photo:

David Bassett on Tuesday talks about the challenges he faces in his new
job as local director of the federal Transportation Security
Administration at the Greater Rochester International Airport.

bassett.jpg