"Pittsburgh International Airport security flunks 'pop quiz'"

Friday, February 7, 2003

Pittsburgh International Airport security flunks 'pop quiz'
FAA employee passes checkpoint without credentials review
By Mark Belko
The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette


U.S. Transportation Security Administration employees had seen the aviation
safety inspector countless times during their work at Pittsburgh
International Airport's security checkpoint.

But the one time they didn't check her credentials could end up being
costly.

Three TSA screeners and a checkpoint manager are facing discipline after
failing to stop the woman from breaching security on Monday. The woman, a
Federal Aviation Administration employee, walked the wrong way down a lane
reserved for travelers coming off the people-mover trains into the airport's
landside building.

Unknown to the screeners, the woman was acting on behalf of their employer,
testing security at the checkpoint.

"It's sort of like being a classroom teacher and giving a pop quiz," Federal
Security Director Robert Blose said. "Well, the pop quiz was not passed."

Blose, who is in charge of security at Pittsburgh for the TSA, said he has
yet to determine how the employees involved would be disciplined. But he
said he has already ordered additional training for screeners and plans to
re-emphasize existing procedures.

The TSA also intends to rope off part of the two exit lanes from the
people-mover trains to restrict people from copying the actions of the FAA
employee.

The woman was known to at least some of the TSA workers at the checkpoint.

But that was no excuse for what occurred, Blose said. All employees who work
at the airport or for the airlines are required to be screened if they are
going through the checkpoint.

"Nobody gets through the exit lane, not even me," Blose said. "I'm
authorized but unless it's an extreme emergency I will be running down the
checkpoint and holding out my credentials. That way, there are no
assumptions, there's no confusion in anyone's mind."

The airport's security checkpoint sits between two exit lanes, each about 13
feet wide, from the people-mover trains, which transport travelers between
the landside building -- reserved for ticketing, baggage check-in and
baggage retrieval -- and the airside building, which is for boarding and
getting off planes.

Access to the airside building is restricted to travelers with tickets or
gate passes. They must pass through the security checkpoint to board
people-mover trains to the boarding terminal.

There is a TSA employee stationed in each of the exit lanes to prevent
security breaches, Blose said.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates the airport, is
working with the TSA to widen the security checkpoint this year.

Blose said Monday's test was one in a series designed to keep employees on
their toes and look for weaknesses.

"I never like failing anything. The screeners don't. The supervisors don't.
Sometimes you take these things and turn them into positives. Sometimes you
learn more through adversity than you do through success," he said.

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