Wednesday, March 28, 2007
DANIA BEACH - If you take a look around at
the people working at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, chances
are that everyone from the workers who check your bag to the clerk that rings up
your gum and magazines is part of the team of people that keep you safe at the
airport.
In this new era of enhanced security these folks are the eyes
and ears of the airport, and the new security czar at the airport told
CBS4’s Carey Codd in his first
interview that he wants to make this airport the standard for security across
the country.
A promotional video touts the as one of the fastest growing
airports in the nation, and Branch Walton, the airport’s Safety and Security
Compliance Manager, says it plays a major role in trying to protect it. With
61,000 travelers passing through it everyday, the task is not a small one.
“There is no way to measure success in a program like this, but we don't
care as long as we don’t have anything happen here,” said Walton.
Walton
is helping to train all 7,000 airport employees, no matter what their job may
be. We attended a small training session that Walton taught on Tuesday on
handling sensitive security information. In fact, we could only record a few
minutes of it because of the nature of the information. The goal is to
preventing terrorism or any type of crime.
“Every employee knows what his
or her environment looks like on a regular basis,” he said. Essentially we're
saying if you see something that doesn't fit, report it. It's as simple as
that.”
Since he started 5 months ago Walton is training workers in line
with Transportation Security Administration guidelines, and he wants to take it
a step further, making Ft. Lauderdale's airport the best trained in the
country.
And Walton comes with a wealth of experience protecting the
leaders of the free world. He was a secret service agent, working details for
Presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan.
“Politics aside...the favorite of
all time is Reagan. Just a very down to earth guy,” he said.
Walton says
like protecting a president, you must get everyone involved in protecting an
airport this size. This means making sure even passengers keep a keen eye for
people who wish to harm us.
“If I can use an analogy, it's probably like
a 100 piece puzzle and if they identify one small piece, that may be the one
that helps us see what the picture is,” he said.
Walton could not say if
the training has led to any arrests or foiled any types of crimes so far, and he
hopes someday to create a security program to bring together all South Florida
airports and seaports to share information, providing greater protection for the
area.
Branch Walton has worked secret service details for three presidents.