"Indiana airport now screens for concealed chemicals"

Sunday, March 16, 2003

Airport now screens for concealed chemicals
Chemically-sensitive swab used to check bags for residue.
By Dan Cortez
The Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette


Airline passengers are accustomed to being searched from head to toe for
concealed weapons. Now their bags are being searched for concealed
chemicals.

Fort Wayne International Airport travelers are facing a new wrinkle in the
already extensive baggage-screening process - a wipe-down with a chemically
sensitive swab.

"From everything that we've seen, if we go to war, there will be a real high
risk of terrorism," said Aaron Batt, federal security director at the
airport. "What we're attempting to provide is enhanced security."

The process is part of an increasing number of security checks air travelers
are now required to undergo. Since September 2002, all checked bags are
opened and searched by one of 20 employees of the Transportation Security
Administration, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. Now the
search includes the swabbing, which checks for unspecified (for security
reasons) chemical residue.

Friday afternoon, baggage screener Dan Burch watched as a co-worker
performed the process in front of the passenger, who stood next to the bag
as it was opened. The gray tennis shoes were inspected, as were the clothes.

And then the swab - a piece of paper with a chemically sensitive membrane in
the middle - was run through the interior of the black suitcase, then
inserted into a machine that analyzes the membrane. After passing, the bag
was sent on its way. The passenger's eyebrows raised at the sight, but he
didn't complain.

"We have very few problems," Burch said. "Most of the people respect what we
are doing and they appreciate it."

False alarms do happen. Screeners have gone so far as to keep a bag off a
plane after they couldn't figure out what was setting off an alarm. Most of
the time, though, a more detailed search reveals the bag is safe.

"We really look into the bag when we don't know what the substance is,"
Burch said.

The machines are set up near the ticket counters and passengers are welcome
to watch the inspection. The inspectors themselves were taught customer
relations by Marriott Hotel personnel.

"Most people are very willing to cooperate. There are times when they come
in frustrated," Burch said. "We try to say something nice. The majority are
very accepting. Some people you know not to say a lot to. And then they are
out of there quickly."

After having checked bags examined, passengers go through a physical search
along with their carry-on bags.

Carry-on luggage is still examined by the X-ray, commonplace in airports for
years. Metal-detector searches lead some passengers to have to remove their
shoes and belts for inspections before being admitted to their gate.

Terry Cross, 39, of Fort Wayne, was flying to Washington, D.C., Friday for a
business conference. He arrived early, but didn't mind the extra bag check.

"I feel a lot safer," he said. "I don't think it's a problem. It doesn't
make me upset."

Batt, who worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before
Sept. 11, has top security clearance to Federal Bureau of Investigation
information regarding airport security. He makes weekly trips to South Bend
to be briefed on any suspicious activity in the area.

Security has beefed up, he said, but screeners don't want to scare
passengers. A pilot program in Denver is experimenting with a separate
screening area for families and children.

Batt wants passengers to be inspected, not interrogated.

"(Screeners) are the first line of defense, not the last," he said.

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