=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2002/03= /16/MN124535.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, March 16, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Fast, safe airport checks pledged/Mineta says new agency's motto is 'no wea= pons, no waiting' Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta vowed yesterday that by near= ly doubling the aviation security force to 60,000 federal screeners and sky marshals, the government will make airport checkpoints swift and secure. Creating a new agency that will have more troops than the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and Border Patrol combined has officials working around the clock to meet the congressionally imposed Nov. 19 deadline, Mineta said during a San Francisco speech before the Commonwealth Club of California. Mineta's overall staffing figures for the new Transportation Security Administration were far higher than any previous estimates, which only cited 30,000 screeners. "It is a huge undertaking," said the former San Jose mayor and congressman. "I'm here to assure you that the Department of Transportation is up to the task." By nearly doubling the 34,000 screeners who formerly worked for airlines, Mineta said, the new Transportation Security Agency will speed air travel and provide "world-class security with world-class customer service." "I don't want our security checkpoints to become 'choke-points.' . . . We're trying to help the economy revive," said Mineta, whose goal is for passengers to spend no more than 10 minutes in screening lines. "Our motto . . . 'No weapons, no waiting,' " he told the lunchtime crowd of 150 in a speech that was broadcast live over National Public Radio. To beat a December deadline for bomb-detection machine screening of all airline baggage, Mineta also said the government will invest more in explosive trace detectors that cost $40,000 each -- reducing the reliance on $1 million, truck-size automated bomb-screening machines that require costly and difficult terminal renovations. He said that protecting U.S. sea lanes and ports through which 95 percent of the nation's commerce flows "is a very high priority for the Bush administration." Mineta has posted armed Coast Guard officers on big ships which pass, for example, under critical Bay Area bridges. And federal officials also are exploring cutting-edge technology to screen huge marine cargo containers for terrorist weapons. Outside the Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel, where the speech was delivered, dozens of noncitizen screeners from the Bay Area's three international airports carried signs saying, "Justice for Immigrant Workers" and "We Are Skilled Screeners." About 1,200 screeners face losing their jobs by Nov. 19 because the new federal transportation security law passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks requires screeners to be U.S. citizens. Mineta danced a fine line when asked his reaction to a bill introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, that would allow legal immigrants who meet military service qualifications to keep their screener jobs. "If the Congress passes that, fine," said Mineta. While the law clearly bars noncitizens, he said, "I think we should try to give as much leeway as we can. Some of these people have been working for screening companies for a long time. They're able, capable people." Mineta has been urging immigration officials to help expedite efforts by screeners to become citizens. "Some of these people have been standing in line for five, seven years to become citizens." But some security experts criticize lawmakers and TSA officials for striving to retain many of the private security screeners who've been responsible for repeated airport security lapses. "The reason we passed the law was to replace the people who are there wi= th more qualified people," said Charles Slepian, head of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center, a respected aviation security think-tank. "Now we have legislators who are saying this should be more of a 'jobs' program than a security program. We seem to forget what happened on Sept. 11." At a news conference after his speech, Mineta bristled at experts who say the new federal security agency is simply a different name for the same old Federal Aviation Administration security officials and private airport screeners who have bungled security in the past. Former FAA officials will comprise only about 1,100 of the TSA's 60,000 workforce, Mineta said. The agency's $4.8 billion budget is nearly seven times the $700 million spent by all airlines combined on airport security before Sept. 11, he added. The additional money will allow the TSA to hire more, better-paid and trained screeners than the airlines, whose security firms often paid minimum-wage. "We've got top people coming in," Mineta said, including federal security directors who will head operations at 80 major airports and be paid up to $150, 000. The first airport security chiefs include veteran Secret Service agents, a retired Navy aircraft carrier commander and a big-city police chief. "I will match their qualifications against anybody," he said. E-mail Alan Gathright at agathright@sfchronicle.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle