By John Crawley WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Reuters) - Brand name corporations like Disney, Marriott, and Intel are helping U.S. transportation planners craft strategies for dealing with new air security demands, government officials said on Wednesday. In an unusual alliance brought on by the overwhelming nature of having to set up a new transportation agency quickly to meet unprecedented security demands, the Bush administration has turned to corporate America for help. "Many first-rate firms have offered us resources to use for a number of months," said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in a speech to transportation experts. "Our legal and ethics advisers have constructed a program which allows us to accept these offers of support." Mineta said. Mineta and other senior Transportation Department officials said the corporate officials will work with a government team assembled to create the Transportation Security Administration. The Transportation Department has to build the TSA from scratch and have more than 30,000 people checking bags and overseeing other airline and airport security operations by this time next year. "They (corporate experts) will help us address questions like how to manage long lines of people efficiently, how to empower field offices in a distributed organization, and how to best roll-out new airport operations," Mineta said. A senior Transportation Department official said the program is innovative and logical given the the mandate and time constraints. "This sounds esoteric, but it is vital to our success," said the official, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. "We are looking for expertise." Officials identified several companies whose advice could be useful. They include Walt Disney Co. (DIS), Intel Corp. (INTC), FedEx Corp. (FDX) and Marriott International Inc. (MAR). Mineta also said new agency would immediately start working with Baltimore-Washington International Airport to study airport operations, test security techniques and technology, and begin to train senior managers. Transportation officials said BWI was a convenient location for tests because it is relatively close to Washington and handles both domestic and international traffic. Among the first things to be assessed is how airlines manage new requirements for securing checked baggage. Mineta announced the long awaited guidelines on Wednesday, adding little to what was expected. The government was required by Congress to have systems in place by Friday to screen all checked baggage for explosives. But with a paucity of explosive detection machines in place and a shortage of bomb-sniffing dogs available, the government and airlines are closing the gap by matching bags with passengers. This technique, initially opposed by the airlines because of the potential for slowing down operations, will match travelers to bags when a passenger begins a flight. But it will not match on a connecting flight. Commercial air service moves passengers quickly through a web of connecting points called hubs, and aviation experts said making carriers match all bags on all flights would trigger systemwide gridlock. They say this would result in long lines at terminals and delayed flights.