"Fired SFO Security Manager Alleges 'Serious Breaches'"

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Gaming the System
Former SFO screener sues security company, alleging breaches
BY KIM CURTIS
The Associated Press


SAN FRANCISCO - A former worker at San Francisco International Airport has
sued the company responsible for security, alleging breaches that included
allowing unchecked passengers to board aircraft, failing to detect weapons
and alerting checkpoint managers about the presence of supposedly "covert"
inspectors.

Gerry Berry, president of Covenant Aviation Security, the Illinois-based
company that provides security at SFO, called the allegations
"unsubstantiated" and the product of one "disgruntled employee."

In a suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court last Friday, Gene Bencomo
alleged that Covenant ignored a series of security breaches at SFO beginning
in December 2003.

Covenant provides security at two of the five U.S. airports participating in
a pilot program set up by Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. That program officially ended in November and airports are now allowed
to petition the Transportation Security Administration, which supervises
security at U.S. airports, to allow private companies, like Covenant, to
provide their security.

Among the most serious allegations by Bencomo was that Covenant developed an
elaborate system to notify security checkpoint managers when inspectors, who
are dressed like other passengers and known as "decoys," are in the airport.

The decoys try to carry fake bombs, weapons and other contraband through
security checkpoints. When they passed through checkpoints at SFO a manager
notified workers at other gates that an inspector was headed in their
direction, effectively cheating on the tests, Bencomo alleged.

Bencomo said in an interview that he was instructed to use SFO's 1,200
security cameras to track the inspectors, even into restrooms, and describe
them "right down to their nail polish."

"The checkpoint manager would step up security at that checkpoint and would
personally ensure that the undercover agent was properly searched and that
the Covenant employees would locate the weapon, explosive device or other
contraband material," according to the suit.

Bencomo says Covenant was attempting to inflate its pass rates and win
additional airport contracts. The three-year SFO contract, which expires in
November, is worth about $72 million, according to TSA.

Mike Bolles, who investigated Bencomo's complaints for Covenant, countered
that those "covert audits" have nothing to do with whether the company wins
or keeps contracts.

"I think he's angling for a settlement," Bolles said of Bencomo. Bolles
added he was unable to substantiate any of Bencomo's complaints and said
Bencomo wasn't even working the day when inspectors were at SFO.

Both Bolles and Berry, the company's president, said Bencomo's lawyers told
them in December if they paid Bencomo $3 million, they wouldn't go to the
media and "all of this would disappear."

And while Bolles and Berry said they were prohibited from revealing how
their company performed on the audits, they did say if they were
systematically cheating, they'd be doing much better than they did.

Nonetheless, the TSA is conducting its own investigation into Bencomo's
complaints, according to spokesman Nico Melendez.

"Our goal is to ensure the safety of passengers. Anytime there's an
allegation of impropriety ... we have to investigate things like that,"
Melendez said, adding that TSA has been pleased and remains confident in
Covenant's abilities.

He said TSA routinely runs covert tests in airports whether security is
provided by TSA or a private company.

They're "designed to break the system, to find vulnerabilities so we can
address those in follow-on training," he said, but the results are not tied
to contracts.

Bencomo, who formerly worked as a flight attendant, said during his two
years at SFO, passengers routinely made it through security with knives, box
cutters and, once, even a small chain saw.

"When I would mention these serious concerns to management, I was threatened
with my job," Bencomo said. "I was told at one point it's all about the
money and I just don't get it."

The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

Bencomo said he was demoted and eventually forced to quit.

"They are not there to protect the traveling public, they are there to make
a quick dollar," Bencomo said of Covenant. "They are putting the public at
serious risk. It's just a matter of time before something happens."


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