NYTimes.com Article: Airport Security Sweeps Net Hundreds

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com.


/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\


Enjoy new investment freedom!

Get the tools you need to successfully manage your portfolio
from Harrisdirect.  Start with award-winning research.  Then
add access to round-the-clock customer service from
Series-7 trained representatives.  Open an account today and
receive a $100 credit!

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/Harrisdirect.html

\----------------------------------------------------------/


Airport Security Sweeps Net Hundreds

April 28, 2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS




Filed at 2:28 p.m. ET



WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of employees with access to
high-security areas of airports have been arrested on
charges such as using phony Social Security numbers, lying
about past criminal convictions or being in the United
States illegally, government records show.

Federal law enforcement officials said they have arrested
or indicted more than 450 workers at 15 airports in the
investigation known as Operation Tarmac.

Many of those arrested are illegal immigrants who could be
deported, while others face prison terms of up to 10 years
or fines of up to $250,000, say officials of the
departments of Justice and Transportation.

``We will not stop until we are satisfied we have a work
force that the traveling public can trust,'' Transportation
Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said.

The workers arrested had security badges allowing them to
get onto planes, ramps, runways and cargo areas, law
enforcement officials said. They were employed by private
companies, such as those which clean airplanes or operate
airport restaurants.

While law enforcement officials said none of those arrested
has terrorist links, some aviation experts said the workers
were in positions to help smuggle bombs or weapons aboard
aircraft, if they wished to do so.

Nearly 140 of the arrests involved workers at Dulles
International Airport and Reagan National Airport in the
Washington, D.C., area.

Other arrests have come in Baltimore, Phoenix, San Diego,
San Francisco, San Jose, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Boston,
Sacramento, Calif., Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland,
Ore., and Salt Lake City.

Before Sept. 11, government officials did not give much
attention to the threat that an airport employee could hide
a bomb on a plane while cleaning the aircraft or restocking
the galley, or help someone else to do it, said Mary
Schiavo, a former inspector general at the Transportation
Department.

Efforts since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and the
1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 focused on trying to prevent
terrorists from putting bombs in suitcases, said Schiavo,
now a lawyer representing victims of airplane accidents.

Even after Argenbright Security was fined $1 million in
2000 for failing to sufficiently check its employees'
backgrounds, the issue was not a high priority of law
enforcement, said Todd Zinser, a deputy inspector general
for the department.

``Airport security wasn't at the forefront,'' Zinser said.
``Of course, Sept. 11 changed that. It was much easier for
us to develop these coalitions to look at these problems.
At the same time, you had the Justice Department more
interested in pursuing these cases because of the national
emergency.''

An official of one union that represents some immigrants
and airport workers believes the effort will not improve
security.

``These are people who are working hard, who are paying
their taxes and who want to contribute to America,'' said
Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service
Employees International Union. ``They're not a security
threat by any stretch of the imagination.''

Several Justice Department agencies are involved in the
investigation, along with the Transportation Department
inspector general and new Transportation Security
Administration.

But Zinser said that ``what bothers us is that law
enforcement has to go out and find these. There aren't
other checks in the system that are being used to make sure
these gaps don't exist.''

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey in October ordered background
checks of an estimated 750,000 airport and airline
employees who could enter secured areas of airports. The
checks are supposed to be completed by December.

``We're just trying to make sure the rules are followed,''
Zinser said. ``They exist to make sure security is as good
as it can be. If you don't enforce the rules, then you have
these potential threats.''

^------

On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

Transportation
Department inspector general: http://www.oig.dot.gov

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Airport-Crackdown.html?ex=1021020457&ei=1&en=3eac946934693f3d



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters
or other creative advertising opportunities with The
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
help@nytimes.com.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

[Index of Archives]         [NTSB]     [NASA KSC]     [Yosemite]     [Steve's Art]     [Deep Creek Hot Springs]     [NTSB]     [STB]     [Share Photos]     [Yosemite Campsites]