"Security test at Michigan airport leads to some policy changes"

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Security test at Ford Airport leads to some policy changes
WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids (MI)


Grand Rapids, Mich. - A security breach occurred at Gerald R. Ford
International Airport on Wednesday, but the intruder wasn't arrested. 

The intruder was a Transportation Security Administration officer. He
was conducting a test of airport security, and he went right through
that gate.

At a broken gate, barricades were erected and a guard with D&R Security
was required to check IDs; and yet, somehow someone slipped through,
undetected, onto the tarmac. 

It would have been a big problem and big news, but the intruder was a
government employee just doing his job, testing and retesting security
at the airport. 

Airport officials say before 9-11 those tests would take place on a
yearly basis, and the airport knew they were going to happen. Now these
tests happen every day, and nobody says when or where they'll go on.

On Tuesday, it happened at a gate in need of repairs for just a few
hours. That was just long enough for a Transportation Security
Administration agent to sneak through.

Airport officials fixed the gate and changed their policies. Now when
gates break down, they're left closed and employees will have to use a
different entrance. 

These remedies all serve as an example of how security can fail and work
at the same time.

The individual responsible for watching the gate is no longer working at
the airport.

The airport police conducts it's own tests at Gerald R. Ford
International and has a positive reinforcement program called Sneaky Sam
which is designed to motivate airline and airport employees to look out
for intruders.


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