"Security Rules Are Adjusted at U.S. Airports"

Saturday, March 22, 2003

Safety Rules Are Adjusted at Airports
By EDWARD WONG
The New York (NY) Times


American travelers debating whether to fly during the war with Iraq are
asking themselves not only whether airport security is tight enough, but
also whether it is relatively trouble-free.

The Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency that took
control of airport security after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is trying
to iron out complaints about security while making sure terrorists do not
have access to commercial jetliners. The agency is introducing what it calls
a "tailored" security system for airports. It has ranked 429 airports
nationwide according to factors like size, location and, ultimately, the
risk of attack.

Then it issues orders to the airports according to those rankings. Some
airports are asked to increase the presence of law enforcement officers,
randomly search moving cars and conduct patrols with bomb-sniffing dogs.
Others do not have to take such precautions.

"If you've seen one airport, you've seen one airport, and there's a real
need to put in place security enhancements appropriate to the individual
facilities," said Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the security agency.

The agency employs 33,000 passenger screeners and 23,000 baggage screeners
at the 429 airports.

It began bolstering airport security on Monday night after Tom Ridge, the
homeland security secretary, raised the alert status of the country to
orange from yellow. By the time the United States military launched the
first missiles at Baghdad on Wednesday night, most security measures were
already in place. Now, individual airports are fine-tuning their procedures.

"I'm not that worried," said Yeung Kwan Chow, a 31-year-old resident of
Canada who was riding a tram through O'Hare International Airport in Chicago
before a flight to visit his family in Hong Kong. "Once there is a war, they
usually have more security so you feel safer and more comfortable. I don't
think terrorists would choose today to strike."

In February, the last time the country went on orange alert, the security
administration did not allow its airport directors much leeway and issued
uniform requirements for everyone.

Mr. Turmail declined to give details about the ranking system because, as he
put it, "we don't want someone watching this on TV and assembling a notebook
and gaming the system."

Steve Van Beek, senior vice president for policy at the Airports Council
International-North America, said the airports considered at highest risk
were the obvious ones. Mr. Van Beek pointed to those in the New York and
Washington areas, as well as Boston - the takeoff point for two of the
planes in the Sept. 11 attacks - and Los Angeles, a target of a foiled
terrorist plot in 2000.

Mr. Van Beek said his organization, whose membership includes 167 airport
operating authorities, had received complaints of the costs of security.

"On the cost side, with the security measures, the elevation of threat level
to orange requires a lot of extra law enforcement officers, both uniformed
and nonuniformed," he said. "It's costing airports millions of dollars. It's
putting a cost burden on airports at a time when revenues are going down."

The most visible change since Monday are the random searches of cars driving
through airports. At New Orleans International Airport, officers with the
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department were flagging down vehicles. Most
drivers quietly obeyed, but there were those who found the searches
annoying.

"I have dark windows," said Julie Brady, a 42-year-old traveler whose car
was inspected by an officer before her flight to New Orleans from Dallas.
"What can he know? If I have this bag, what's in it?"

At Hartsfield Atlanta International, the world's busiest airport, officials
have set up one checkpoint each on northern and southern access roads. There
are signs before the checkpoints telling drivers to turn around if they do
not want their cars inspected. About 60,000 vehicles use the roads near the
main terminal each day, and the searches are done by private security
screeners and are overseen by Atlanta police officers, said Lanii Thomas, an
airport spokeswoman.

There are cheaper ways of maintaining vigilance. In the New Orleans airport,
signs tell people to watch out for any "possible threat or unusual
activity." Wilfred Isadore, who was working at a shoeshine stand near a
Southwest Airlines ticket counter, seemed to be taking that to heart.

"I don't let nobody leave no bags around here," he said as he scrubbed a
businessman's black loafers. "But that's not nervous, just cautious."