"Schumer: screen airport employees"

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Schumer: screen airport employees
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer called Wednesday for tougher screening of
airport employees, citing recent criminal charges against three baggage
handlers in Florida.

Currently, airport employees do not have to walk through a metal detector
when they report for work. They undergo a background check when their
employment begins, and are subject to random checks.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would introduce legislation next week that would
require federal security staff to screen airport workers for possible
weapons like any passenger, though at separate employee entrances.

"At airports across the country, we aren't doing nearly enough to prevent
someone who wants to do harm from boarding a plane or hiding in checked bags
and we've got to step it up, now," Schumer said in a statement.

Schumer cited the case of three baggage handlers charged last month with
conspiring to smuggle drugs and guns to Puerto Rico.

Authorities arrested one of the handlers as he disembarked a March 5 flight
to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan. Officials say at the
time of the arrest the man was carrying a duffel bag containing guns and
drugs.

Schumer's proposed bill would require the Transportation Security
Administration to screen all employees with access to secure areas,
beginning first with major airline hubs and eventually expanding to all U.S.
airports by 2010.

The senator did not say how much the plan would cost.

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