"Congress expected to clear screener hurdle"

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Congress expected to clear screener hurdle
BY LESLIE MILLER
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Lawmakers, many of them upset with the performance of the
Transportation Security Administration, hope to encourage airports to return
to privately employed screeners.

An agreement worked out by House and Senate negotiators shields airports
from lawsuits if they switch to private screeners.

Some airport officials haven't made the switch for fear that they could be
sued if terrorists carried out an attack because of something private
screeners did or didn't do.

Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., added the legal protection to the Homeland
Security spending bill to give airports the option of using private
screeners. Congress is expected to pass the bill late Thursday.

"Private screening - under the watchful eye of the TSA - would have a lot
more flexibility and maneuverability in addressing peak-hour loads and
moving screeners around on the clock, rather than a large bureaucracy like
the TSA," Rogers said.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., a member of the House aviation subcommittee,
thinks private screeners will weaken airport security. Companies that hire
screeners already have some legal protection, he said.

"If the private screening's so great, why do the private screening companies
need the federal government to cap their liability?" DeFazio asked. "Why do
the airports want to be exempt from any liability?"

The switch to TSA screeners came after the Sept. 11 attacks exposed problems
with privately employed workers. Private screeners have been used by five
airports as part of a test comparing them with federal screeners at the
other 450 commercial airports. They are hired, trained, paid and tested to
TSA standards.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. and chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said
that air passengers would be safer with private screeners. "It would be much
more efficient," he said.

A congressional investigation found the private screeners performed
statistically better than the federal screeners, though opponents of private
screening say the difference was slight.

In November, all airports were allowed to apply to switch from government
screeners to private screeners.

Advocates of private screeners predicted that dozens of airports would rush
to make the switch because of frustration with TSA's staffing decisions and
procedures.

But only Elko Regional Airport in Nevada and Sioux Falls Regional Airport
have applied to opt out.

One of the five test airports, San Francisco International Airport, had said
it would switch to government screeners because it didn't have sufficient
legal protection. Airport spokesman Michael McCarron said it would keep
private screeners if the congressional plan becomes law.

Steve van Beek, executive vice president of policy for the trade group
Airports Council International, estimates there still are 20 or 30 airports
interested in making the switch.

However, he said legal protection is only part of the issue. The other is
whether TSA will allow airports to hire the screening company themselves.
Now, the airports have to ask TSA to choose the company that provides the
screening service for them.

"If those are the two big issues, then one has been nailed down," van Beek
said.

George Doughty, executive director of Lehigh Valley International Airport in
Allentown, Pa., says he doesn't see much benefit in having TSA hire a
screening company.

Airports now have half the responsibility for security and the TSA has the
other half, he said. "If I'm just going to bring in yet another third party
in the process, it doesn't seem to get me anything," he said.

"Right now we've got a system in place. It's working," Doughty said. "We
could improve on it if we could manage the screening."

TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon said the agency is pleased the issue appears
close to resolution.

"We know there are a number of airports that have been awaiting resolution
of this issue," Harmon said.

The other four airports that use private screeners are in Rochester, N.Y.,
Tupelo, Miss., Jackson, Wyo., and Kansas City, Mo.

ON THE NET

Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov


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