"Editorial: TSA proposal to ban LEO shutdown of checkpoints"

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Editorial
TSA proposal
The Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal


Three major airport groups are protesting a Transportation Security
Administration proposal that would limit the authority of airport police at
security checkpoints. The groups' concerns are warranted.

As it weighs changes to policy that it is expected to finalize in May, the
TSA has proposed stripping airport police of the authority to close a
security checkpoint in the event of an emergency. That authority would fall
solely to TSA officials.

The procedure is being considered, TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said,
because of the great expense airports are investing in security measures.
"They want to be sure their money is for effective security," he said.

But rather than enhance efforts, such a change could actually jeopardize
security at a time when quick action can be critical. Instead, this proposal
would require airport police to await the arrival of a TSA official in order
to shut down a checkpoint.

That scenario was described in a collaborative letter to the TSA from the
American Association of Airport Executives, the Airports Council
International and the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network. "If you have
a person breach the checkpoint with a gun, you don't want another 200 people
going through screening who could become hostages or targets," Tim Kimsey of
the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network said.

He's right, of course.

No one likes delays resulting from increased airport security, but such
measures are a fixture in this post-9/11 era of terrorism. The process is
designed to keep us safe, and one can argue logically that it's helping to
do just that as there has been no successful airline terror incident since
the downing of the World Trade Center towers.

The system certainly is far from perfect. Just last week, a uniformed but
off-duty airline flight attendant turned herself in after apparently
inadvertently carrying a gun onboard a major airline's flight from Atlanta
to Washington. Flight attendants and pilots are required to go through the
same boarding procedures as passengers, and it's unclear how the gun went
undetected.

TSA officials should be concerned with ideas to heighten the level of
security and prevent incidents such as the flight attendant mishap rather
than proposals that actually may delay taking appropriate action.

It's hard to fathom how security is heightened when trained airport law
enforcement officials are barred from shutting down a checkpoint in the face
of a potential crisis. Such a proposal seems nonsensical.

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