Airports may be able to hire private screeners WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Barely six months after an all-federal airport screening= =20 work force was hired, the government is considering establishing standards= =20 that could let some airports return to privately employed screeners next=20 year. Congress created the Transportation Security Administration after the= =20 Sept. 11 terror attacks and ordered it to replace private screeners, who=20 critics said were poorly trained by companies more interested in making=20 profits than providing security. Congress also gave airports the option of= =20 returning to private screeners in November 2004. Some airport managers are= =20 frustrated with the TSA and its handling of screeners and are interested in= =20 the possibility of hiring private companies to do the work. TSA spokesman=20 Robert Johnson said a working group is studying how airports would propose= =20 to hire private companies and how the agency would evaluate the plans. "Though there is some rumbling about airports who may be interested in=20 doing this, we need to be clear that we are still putting the finishing=20 touches on the federal program, and a year-and-a-half is a long way off,"=20 Johnson said. Advocates believe private companies would be more adaptable=20 to individual airport needs, but they say screeners still should have the=20 same training, pay, benefits and oversight as federal employees. Steve van= =20 Beek, senior vice president of Airports Council International-North=20 America, the largest airport trade group, said some airports worry that TSA= =20 job cuts will make passengers wait longer to board flights. Airport=20 directors say they could better manage the workload if the TSA would give=20 them more freedom to deploy part-time screeners. Now it's up to the TSA to= =20 determine the mix of full- and part-time workers. Rep. John Mica, chairman= =20 of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, urged TSA chief James=20 Loy to begin putting in place a system for airports to request private=20 screeners. Like other congressional Republicans, Mica, R-Fla., worries that the=20 Transportation Security Administration has grown too large, too fast, and=20 is unwilling or unable to respond to needs of individual airports. Some=20 members of Congress are alarmed at the prospect that private contractors=20 might return. "We can't go there," said Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, ranking= =20 Democrat on Mica's subcommittee. "The private screeners previously were=20 supposedly under federal supervision, and they comprised the lowest-paid,=20 highest-turnover employees in the airport." David Stempler, president of=20 the Air Travelers Association, said aviation security is part of homeland=20 defense and the federal government's responsibility. "How quickly we=20 forget," he said. "We just went through this horrific process of switching= =20 from an inadequate private security system." The TSA began hiring screeners= =20 last spring and ended up with 56,000 workers, far more than many=20 Republicans in Congress believed were necessary. They are deployed at 424=20 commercial airports. To gauge how well federal screeners are doing, Congress ordered five other= =20 commercial airports to use private screeners. Those airports are in San=20 Francisco; Rochester, N.Y.; Tupelo, Miss.; Jackson, Wyo., and Kansas City,= Mo. Under the program, those screeners are employed by private companies under= =20 the supervision of local TSA security directors. They're hired, trained,=20 paid and tested to the same standards as federal screeners. Managers are=20 angry at some airports with TSA screeners that the agency is cutting 6,000= =20 jobs. Most of the first 3,000 already are gone, the rest to be eliminated=20 by the end of September. Airport managers fear the cuts will lead to longer= =20 waits for passengers. The TSA had set a goal of 10 minutes, but after=20 announcing the cuts Loy said some airports likely would see longer delays. Officials at the five airports with private contract screeners say that so= =20 far, they're satisfied. "There's such a tremendous cost associated with=20 security screening at airports, they need to look at the private contractor= =20 option," said Terrence Slaybaugh, director of aviation at Greater Rochester= =20 International Airport, which uses McNeil Technologies Inc., based in=20 Springfield, Va., to provide screeners. Slaybaugh said the private contractors' poor performance before Sept. 11,=20 2001, has been corrected with higher wages. Thomas Kinton, aviation=20 director at Logan International Airport in Boston, where two of the four=20 hijacked planes took off on Sept. 11, believes returning to privately=20 employed screeners would hurt security. Federal intelligence agencies are=20 more willing to share threat information with other federal agencies than=20 with private companies, he said. "The people who have the knowledge about=20 what the threat is should be controlling security," he said. "Am I=20 concerned with staffing cuts that may lead to bad customer service?=20 Absolutely. But I'm also worried about security." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************