Monday, October 22, 2007
Airports
object to latest background checks
By Thomas Frank
USA
TODAY
WASHINGTON — A security policy that mandates government
background checks of new airport hires, including sales clerks, waiters and
custodians, is drawing protests from some airports that say they can't hire
workers because clearances take so long.
Two leading airport associations
asked the Transportation Security Administration to rescind or revise the policy
that took effect Oct. 1 in a TSA effort to improve scrutiny of airport
workers.
"The new process is not working," Airports Council International
President Greg Principato said in a letter Thursday to TSA chief Kip Hawley.
"Businesses are contemplating shutting down because of the inability to bring on
new employees."
TSA spokesman Ellen Howe said the agency is working with
the council and the American Association of Airport Executives to end the
delays. She said they are caused by technical difficulties sending job
applicants' personal information to the TSA through the airport association's
computer network.
"When you start something new, it's going to take a
little time to work it out," Howe said. "But we aren't going to back down on
vetting people."
Flights and other critical airport operations have not
been slowed, but airport officials warn that could happen.
"We've had two
and a half weeks of turmoil," said Randy Walker, director of Las Vegas' McCarran
International Airport, which is waiting for the TSA to approve about 500 people
who have been offered jobs at the airport. "This exacerbates the whole problem
of not having enough staff to process passengers or check people out at
stores."
At Miami International Airport, some of the 720 people who have
not been cleared by the TSA are taking jobs elsewhere, airport security director
Lauren Stover said. Shops and restaurants at the airport are "incurring a lot of
overtime to augment the people who should be working," Stover said.
The
TSA's new policy bars airports from issuing an employee ID card that gives
access to secured areas until the TSA verifies that a potential worker is in the
country legally and does not have terrorist ties.
Before Oct. 1, the TSA
ran its background check after someone started working at an airport. It would
order ID cards revoked for those found to be problematic.
"It improves
security to do the checks ahead of time because these individuals are going to
have unescorted access to our nation's airports," Howe said.
Airports
want the TSA to shelve its new policy until background checks can be done
quickly. "We're not asking for anything that would cause less security," said
Wendy Reiter, security chief at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. "We're
just saying, let's go back to what you were doing until you fix the
problem."