"Airport Hires to Undergo Threat Assessment Before Employment"

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Airport Hires to Undergo Threat Assessment Before Employment
By Matthew M. Johnson
Congressional Quarterly


The Transportation Security Administration is requiring new airport
employees to pass a security threat assessment before they are issued
identification badges granting them access to "sterile areas."

Airports issue two types of airport identification cards to secure sensitive
areas of their terminals. One is a secure area badge that identifies vendors
who work at shops beyond the security checkpoint, but still requires them to
be screened like regular passengers. The other is the Secure Identification
Display Area (SIDA) badge, which gives airport workers access to areas
beyond both security checkpoints and alarmed doors where individuals can
access the runway, ramp, or aircraft.

Applicants for either badge will now have to pass the background check
before getting a card.

"This is a good example of how TSA is constantly looking to raise the bar on
security [for] past processes [that] predate TSA," said TSA spokesman
Christopher White. "By conducting security threat assessments prior to
issuing badges, we have a better understanding of exactly who has access to
our critical areas of airports."

Under the Federal Aviation Administration's old system, the airport
conducted a background investigation, then issued a badge and submitted the
applicant's information to TSA for a subsequent security threat assessment.
Before TSA was formed, the FAA was in charge of airport security badge
policy.

The new process requires airports to submit a new hire's background
information to the American Association of Airport Executives'
Transportation Security Clearinghouse, which feeds it to TSA for threat
assessment.

TSA compares the applicants' background information with information
contained in the Terrorist Screening Database to determine if there are any
outstanding immigration, terrorist or other criminal concerns. This process
generally takes about 72 hours to complete, according to the TSA Web site.

At the same time, the airport conducts a background investigation using
biographical and fingerprint information to vet applicants for any of 28
disqualifying crimes, which include murder, assault, racketeering and
blackmail.

If all of these security checks come back clean for an applicant, they can
be issued an identification card and the airport will determine which areas
the worker will be licensed to access.

TWIC on the Way
TSA Administrator Kip Hawley told the Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee last week that the Transportation Worker
Identification Credential program will eventually be implemented at U.S.
airports.

Rolling out TWIC at airports could mean the two currently used airport
worker identification cards, of which the SIDA is one, could become obsolete
in the coming years.

"I think we wouldn't require both, but it is premature to speculate how [the
TWIC] program may look in airports, when we are just rolling it out at ports
now," White said.

TWIC is designed to secure vulnerable areas of transportation facilities
from terrorists and criminals. To enroll in the program, transportation
workers have to submit biographical and biometric information, undergo a
background check and pay a fee.

The credential program was recently rolled out at a Wilmington, Del.,
seaport and will continue expanding to other seaports through 2008.

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