=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/news/archive/2003/09/03/f= inancial1018EDT0056.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, September 3, 2003 (AP) Airports still have some chinks in their armor STEPHEN POWER, The Wall Street Journal (09-03) 07:18 PDT (AP) -- This past spring, a flight attendant inspecting a presumably empty American Eagle commuter plane at Pittsburgh International Airport made an unsettling discovery: a man asleep inside the passenger cabin. The man had slipped past an airline ticket counter during the night, crawled through a baggage conveyor belt and made his way to an unlocked United Airlines van, which had the keys in the ashtray. He then drove to the plane, also unlocked, climbed onto a nearby jet bridge to get aboard and made himself comfortable. Nearly two years after Congress approved a massive expansion of the federal role in airport security, there are still plenty of ways for unauthorized visitors to gain access to planes. Here's a look at some airport vulnerabilities and how they are being addressed by airport authorities and the carriers themselves. Ticket Counters After the May 24 arrest of Louis Esquivel at the Pittsburgh airport, the Transportation Security Administration instructed airline officials to restrict access to keys to their vehicles and to ensure that unauthorized individuals can't get through the baggage-conveyor systems behind the ticket counters. To comply, the Pittsburgh airport has reinforced the locks on the doors leading to its baggage-conveyor belts. American Eagle, an affiliate of AMR Corp., now distances its retractable jet bridges from planes at the airport by about 15 feet when the aircraft aren't being used, company spokeswoman Lisa Bailey says. Before Mr. Esquivel's arrest, the average distance was 3 to 4 feet, which could allow a person to jump across. The airline is considering similar changes at other airports, Ms. Bailey adds. "The response was swift, and steps were taken to ensure there was not a repeat performance," a TSA spokesman says. The spokesman adds that it's "safe to assume" that the agency has communicated the "lessons learned" from Mr. Esquivel's arrest to federal authorities at other airports. Still, other procedures remain unchanged. A spokesman for UAL Corp.'s United Airlines says the airline continues to leave the keys to parked airport vehicles in the ignition or ashtray, so they can be moved quickly in the event of an emergency and to comply with local fire-code regulations. TSA officials "assured us our policies conform to their guidelines," says the spokesman, Jason Schechter. Mr. Esquivel was found guilty of trespassing and other minor offenses by= a state district court. The court allowed him to be released for time served, and he was returned to Texas, from which he had been reported missing, to be placed in the care of his mother and a social worker. Perimeter Security At some airports, the only barrier between the airfield and the outside world is a chain-link fence. And in other places, there is no barrier at all. At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jamaica Bay, three fishermen were able to wander the airfield undetected for about an hour last month after washing ashore near a runway. Police released the men after determining they hadn't meant any harm. Since then, the airport has implemented new security measures to protect runways, though a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages JFK, declined to describe them, citing security protocols. Protecting runways has taken on new significance following the Aug. 12 arrest of a British arms dealer who allegedly tried to sell a Russian-made surface-to-air missile to a U.S. undercover agent posing as an operative for al Qaeda. As part of the sweeping aviation-security law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress directed the TSA to test "new and emerging" technologies for controlling access to closed or secure areas at no fewer than 20 airports. But the measure didn't set a deadline for such tests, and the TSA has yet to begin them. TSA spokesman Brian Turmail says that airport operators are responsible for "preventing and detecting unauthorized access" and that the agency is working with airports to provide "the kind of support and oversight needed to ensure that this requirement is being met." (The Bush administration said Tuesday it would increase the number of air marshals on commercial flights by 5,000;) Some airports aren't happy about the TSA's form of oversight. In Klamath Falls, Ore., in March, officials balked at the agency's request for unrestricted, 24-hour access to taxiways at the airport and other areas inside the fence line, prompting the TSA to threaten the airport with fines. "We saw no reason why they needed to be out there snooping around," the airport's director, Hal Wight, says. He says the airport is already patrolled by Oregon Air National Guard troops stationed on the premises. The extra patrols would have compromised safety on the airfield, he says, since TSA officials at the airport don't have vehicles with flashing lights or radios to identify themselves. Other airports are improving perimeter security on their own. At Boston's Logan International Airport, officials are installing gates with barriers capable of withstanding a heavy truck traveling at 50 miles per hour. The airport also is testing infrared cameras that can track vehicles through smoke, fog or rain. The cameras beam images to a monitor inside the airport's operations center and to hand-held computers carried by airport police. "We're very controlling of our airfield," says Kelly Johnson, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority in Highfill, Ark., who testified before Congress in March about conflicts between the TSA and her airport over perimeter security. "A lot of this (conflict) is just the fact that this organization was stood up so quickly. It's getting better, but initially there were bumps in the road, and there will be more." A good set of eyes is sometimes enough to catch unwanted visitors. Three days after the incident involving the fishermen at JFK, airport police there spotted another group of boaters within the airport's restricted zone, which extends 100 yards from airport property. The boaters turned out to be a reporter and photographer for the New York Times and a boat operator hired to give them a tour of the waters near the airport for a follow-up story about fishermen in Jamaica Bay. The Coast Guard has cited all three for knowingly violating a security zone, an offense punishable by up to $27,500 in civil penalties, a Coast Guard spokesman says. A Times spokesman says, "There was no intent on our staff's part to violate any regulations or any zones"; he adds that the Coast Guard hasn't notified the paper or the two staffers of any citations. In addition to screening passengers on their way to departing flights, t= he TSA guards the exit lanes at airport terminals, to make sure people don't try to enter a terminal's exits to circumvent security. But the agency recently said it could no longer handle this function at every location because of "the constraints we are under." The agency says it may need airports to pay for the hours the agency's "exit watchers" work at night, after the last departing flight has left but before the last arriving flight has landed. Shifting the cost would save the agency only about $8 million annually, based on some industry estimates, but airport officials worry it would also set a precedent for more TSA cost-cutting moves that would be felt by airports and airlines. "People are thinking, 'Wow, what does this mean?' " says Carter Morris, vice president for transportation security policy with the American Association of Airport Executives. Mr. Morris says the TSA's move has raised concern "that at some point they'll say exit lanes are the responsibility of airports at all times." The TSA's Mr. Turmail declines to say how much money the agency would sa= ve by shifting the cost of monitoring exit lanes after hours to airports. But he says the agency is working with airports "to identify the best ways to ensure appropriate measures are in place" to ensure access control for exit lanes after the TSA's screening operations have ceased for the day. Security procedures vary at terminals used by corporate and charter aircraft. Although some have metal detectors to screen passengers and their belongings for weapons, many do not. The TSA has jurisdiction over these facilities but relies to a large extent on the industry to come up with security protocols specific to each airport. For their part, industry officials say it doesn't make sense to impose uniform procedures on such facilities, since the layout and daily operations of airports with such terminals vary. "If the threat level was identical at every airport in America, that wou= ld be one thing, but clearly it is not," says James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association in Alexandria, Va., which represents charter operators and other aviation-service providers. He said that at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the terminal used by corporate and charter aircraft is "on the fringe of the property" and has only four flights a day or so, while Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia has "hundreds and hundreds of private planes coming in and out each day." Since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Signature Flight Support, one = of the industry's largest flight-support operators of hangars for corporate flight departments and charter aircraft, has issued codes for aircraft at its facilities. Flight-crew members on the company's premises must recite the code for their aircraft to a security guard or customer-service agent before gaining access to the airside ramp. At a few of its 43 U.S. facilities, the company, a unit of BBA Group PLC, London, also screens passengers and luggage for weapons, a company spokesman said. Slipping Past Security A sampling of recent airport-security breaches world-wide. * April 13, 2003: A British Airways employee enters a terminal through an exit lane at the Newark, N.J., airport. * May 24: A flight attendant discovers a man asleep aboard an American Eagle flight in Pittsburgh. He had breached several layers of security to reach the plane. * May 29: A man stabs two flight attendants with sharp, wooden instrumen= ts aboard a Quantas flight shortly after it departs Melbourne, Australia. Several passengers overpower him. * June 11: A man brings a 4-inch knife aboard a United Airlines flight. * June 12: Police at Ancona Falconara airport in Italy find a seven-ounce package of explosives aboard an Alitalia flight. * Aug. 2: A woman brushes past security at Chicago's Midway Airport. Thousands of passengers have to be re-screened. Source: Airport Security Report =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP