"OIA breach triggers new calls to close security gap"

Friday, March 9, 2007

OIA breach triggers new calls to close security gap
A review of U.S. airports is urged along with a test program to screen
workers.
By Tamara Lytle, Jim Leusner and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel


WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ric Keller of Orlando demanded a federal review of
security at U.S. airports Thursday after two airline employees at Orlando
International Airport were charged with smuggling 14 guns aboard a flight to
Puerto Rico this week.

Meanwhile, two top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee
introduced legislation to set up a pilot program to screen airport workers.

Keller, who called for the probe Thursday in a letter to the inspector
general of the Department of Homeland Security, said the incident
underscores the need to tighten security among the 900,000 airline employees
and vendors across the country with access to secure areas. He also is
demanding a congressional inquiry.

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, and Rep. Nita Lowey of New York said unscreened airport workers
present a "gaping hole" in airport security. Their bill would set up a test
program at five airports to screen all workers each time they entered a
secure area. Currently, airport workers are screened randomly.

"It's unfathomable that more than five years after September 11th, a measure
as fundamental and simple as this one still has not been implemented," said
Lowey, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security. "Meticulously
screening passengers but giving workers open access is like installing an
expensive home-security system but leaving your back door wide open."

But Rep. John Mica of Winter Park, the top Republican on the House
Transportation Committee, said such a plan diverts money "away from what the
real threat is: carrying explosives aboard an aircraft."

Mica said his staff is looking into the Orlando incident. He also welcomes
an inspector general's review.

Keller said an earlier warning he raised about the dangers of employees at
airports went unheeded by transportation-security officials.

The Republican congressman wrote to the Transportation Security
Administration, part of Homeland Security, on Jan. 31 when he expressed
concern that airport workers can bypass screening by flashing their employee
badges. His letter to TSA chief Kip Hawley called the situation "a serious
flaw that may lead to a breach of security."

Security breach in Orlando

Weeks later, two Comair employees who work at Orlando International were
arrested as part of a gun-running operation between Orlando and Puerto Rico.
The men were charged this week with using their work badges to get into
secure airport areas to hide a duffel bag filled with guns.

One of the men retrieved the bag near a boarding gate and carried it aboard
the Delta Air Lines plane bound for Puerto Rico, federal authorities said.

The circumstances surrounding the security breach have sparked growing
tension among the various federal and local law-enforcement agencies
responsible for maintaining safety at the airport.

Answers to some key questions began emerging Thursday as law-enforcement
sources explained what happened:

Why were the two Kissimmee men able to get on the plane with a bag of
weapons even though one of them, Zabdiel Santiago-Balaguer, was part of a
larger investigation by the FBI into gun-smuggling through the airport?

On Thursday, FBI agent Kevin Farrington said investigators were not tracking
Santiago-Balaguer's every move and did not know he had been planning to take
the flight to Puerto Rico with guns that day. The FBI also did not know
Santiago-Balaguer had recruited an accomplice, identified as Thomas Anthony
Munoz, who was on board with the guns.

After pulling Santiago-Balaguer off Delta Air Lines Flight 933, why didn't
authorities check all baggage before allowing the plane to depart?

It was only because of an anonymous caller to Crimeline that they even
learned Santiago-Balaguer was on board, FBI and other officials said.
Orlando police then sent officers to take Santiago-Balaguer off the plane
and search him.

When they were satisfied that Santiago-Balaguer was carrying nothing
illegal, they gave the pilot permission to take off for San Juan.
Apparently, no one thought there was a need to search the plane.

With Santiago-Balaguer now off the airliner, security officials with the
airport's governing agency recognized his name and realized he was under
scrutiny by law enforcement.

That's when they examined surveillance cameras and card-key records in
secure areas. During their search, officials with the Greater Orlando
Aviation Authority noticed that Munoz was near a suspicious bag and also had
gone through the same secure doors as Santiago-Balaguer.

Munoz's name also turned up on the flight manifest, sources said.

GOAA security officials notified TSA officials, who contacted their
counterparts at San Juan airport about a second suspicious passenger on the
flight.

By that time, however, the 186-passenger jet was already nearing San Juan,
and the two air marshals on board were unaware of Munoz and the guns.

Having been contacted by authorities in Orlando, TSA officials in San Juan
quickly set up a screening operation to search all arriving passengers and
their bags. And that's where they arrested Munoz.

Earl Morris, deputy assistant administrator for the TSA's office of security
operations, wouldn't discuss details of how the agency learned Munoz was on
Flight 933.

"It's still an ongoing investigation," Morris said. "TSA was very involved
from the very beginning with this entire operation."

'Dangerous loophole'

Allowing airline workers such as Munoz and Santiago-Balaguer access to
secure areas without being screened is a "dangerous loophole in airport
security," Keller said Thursday, saying that's why the Department of
Homeland Security's inspector general should review the TSA's screening
procedures of airport employees.

He wants the government to consider whether an employee-only screening line
is feasible at airports. Keller said he doesn't know how much it would cost.

"We have found a way for pilots and members of Congress and sky marshals to
be screened, so why can't we find a way for janitors and caterers to be
screened?" Keller said.

Keller said his Jan. 31 letter to TSA -- which is part of the Department of
Homeland Security -- went unanswered. A letter on a different topic to the
Small Business Administration that same week did draw a response, Keller
said.

"Here we have a matter of national security, and I never hear a darn thing
in response," a frustrated Keller said.

TSA spokesman Christopher White said the agency had received Keller's
correspondence and was working on a response.

Tamara Faulkner, spokeswoman for DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner, said
the department had received Keller's letter.

"We try our best to fulfill requests from members of Congress," she said.

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