"SFO chiefs explain delay in lockdown"

Saturday, February 8, 2003

SFO chiefs explain delay in lockdown
Officials weren't sure if security breached
By Alan Gathright, Ryan Kim
The San Francisco (CA) Chronicle


Critics say the security breach at San Francisco International Airport
Thursday -- when a passenger pushed through a closed checkpoint lane and
boarded a plane -- highlights the need for better training and supervision
of security screeners.

SFO security officials reviewed the incident Friday. Officials halted all
flights Thursday -- but not before 11 planes, including one bearing the
runaway woman passenger, had departed. The domestic terminal's United
Airlines concourses were evacuated for nearly two hours while authorities
searched not only for the passenger but for any weapons or explosives that
could have been stashed.

The airport checkpoint, dubbed "the first line of defense" in the air war on
terrorism, was defeated when the passenger, running late for a flight,
merely ducked under a rope, pushed aside a table blocking a closed screening
lane and vanished into the concourse.

The next day, security officials at the airport were forced to answer
questions about why flights had not been grounded until 45 minutes after the
breach. Initial reports that it took two hours before flights were halted
were incorrect, airport officials say.

One reason for the delay was that nearby screeners, who saw the woman rush
behind them, were not sure whether she had skirted the checkpoint, said SFO
federal security director Ed Gomez.

There were also bureaucratic delays, as the screeners -- who work for a
private contractor -- first notified their supervisor and then airport
police, who have an armed officer at every checkpoint.

When Gomez and his Transportation Security Administration staff arrived
about 15 minutes later, screeners still weren't certain there had been a
breach. Then, a review of a new digital security camera showed the woman
pushing past the checkpoint.

VITAL MINUTES LOST

Gomez said that within about 15 minutes of the incident, police and
screeners who could recognize the woman had begun searching the concourse.
But crucial minutes ticked off while authorities sorted out what happened.

"When we saw on the videotapes that she had breached security, I said, 'Lock
it down,' " Gomez said. "At that point I stopped the planes from taking off
and ordered planes that had pushed back from the gate to return."

However, he added: "I need to get good information before I can make serious
decisions like that, because I know the consequences (of stopping flights).
And I also know the consequences of a potential security violation."

One weakness in the system, Gomez said, is that the domestic terminal
checkpoints lack solid partitions that would prevent anyone from slipping
past.

The terminal is about a month away from installing glass partitions, he
said.

Closed checkpoint lanes will be blocked by a temporary barricade. Friday,
the gap where the woman squeezed through was blocked by a bolted wall.

But the security chief said screeners must be more vigilant. The protocol --
which wasn't obeyed -- is for screeners to immediately follow a fleeing
checkpoint crasher while others alert the posted police officer of the
breach.

"Obviously, what happened Thursday is not acceptable, and we're not going to
let it happen again," Gomez said. "We have to train the screeners to be more
aware of their surroundings and not get so locked into the task at hand so
that they can miss something that's important."

WOMAN RELEASED

The woman, a 22-year-old Taiwanese exchange student, was met by FBI agents
when she stepped off her United flight at Baltimore-Washington International
Airport, said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico
Melendez. The woman was questioned and released, pending FBI investigation
about whether charges will be filed.

This is the latest in a string of breaches at U.S. airports since the
federal government took over aviation security after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.

Former Federal Aviation Administration security chief Billie Vincent said
the SFO security team had broken "a very, very basic security rule."

"You have to have a screening supervisor always standing back watching,
who's not engaged in some specific activity," he said. "Because if that
person gets occupied in some task, that's when someone is going to take
advantage of you."

Fortunately, the Thursday breach was "just some lady in a hurry" and not a
terrorist, he added.

"We have had far too many of these security breaches around the country,
which indicates that the training and the supervision is not mature yet --
and probably won't be for some time," Vincent said. He thinks the federal
screeners should have six weeks training and not the one-week of classroom
and 60-hours on-the-job instruction they currently receive.

At most U.S. airports, screeners are now federal employees. But SFO
screeners are employed by a security firm, Covenant Aviation Security, under
a two-year pilot program at five airports to see whether private or federal
screeners perform better.

While "the TSA will build upon these lessons learned," agency spokesman
Melendez said: "We have confidence in Covenant's ability, and we have
confidence in the training that we provided."

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