Arpt. Worker Security Checks Questioned

[Typhoon1244]

Airport Worker Security Checks Questioned
Tue Jun 3, 2:18 PM ET Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo!

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers asked Tuesday why the Transportation Security Administration has yet to complete background checks on half the 55,000 federal workers screening passengers and bags at the nation's airports.

They also noted that several airports have discovered screeners with criminal backgrounds.

The TSA administrator, retired Coast Guard Adm. James Loy, rejected the idea that the hiring process has serious problems. "This is a very, very thorough effort that we undertook," Loy told the panel. Charges of disarray "are simply not true."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Congress ordered the government to take over screening duties from private companies at more than 400 airports. It gave the TSA a Nov. 19, 2002, deadline for putting the passenger screening force in place, and a deadline of Dec. 31, 2002, for screening all checked bags. Both deadlines were met.

Loy said the TSA received more than 1.7 million applicants and interviewed around 340,000 people over a 10-month period. The FBI (news - web sites) conducts a fingerprint-based criminal history records check on each applicant, and a private company, ChoicePoint, checks credit, criminal and employment histories. The federal Office of Personnel Management then carries out a final investigation similar to that given to workers receiving secret clearances.

The OPM's Stephen Benowitz said of 55,000 screeners already employed at airports, the OPM still is working on more than 12,000 cases and has yet to receive completed documents for another 17,500.

Loy said the agency has fired 1,208 screeners, almost half for providing false information on applications, others on revelations of drug or other felony convictions or other crimes.

Funny, I don't remember any delays in doing my background checks.

I also don't remember 1,208 pilots or flight attendants being fired for the aforementioned reasons. Could it possibly be that flight crew members are more trustworthy and reliable than security screeners?

 

[Flying Illini]

Could it possibly be that flight crew members are more trustworthy and reliable than security screeners?

Yes...but you still can't have your nail-clippers back.

 

[njcapt]

Re: Arpt. Worker Security Checks Questio

Funny, I don't remember any delays in doing my background checks.

I also don't remember 1,208 pilots or flight attendants being fired for the aforementioned reasons. Could it possibly be that flight crew members are more trustworthy and reliable than security screeners?

Yeah, I remember that airlines could conditionally hire pilots pending completion of their background checks - as long as they were done within 30 days of their hiring and before they started IOE. I believe that 9/11 put an end to the pending part. Guess it isn't as important to check the backgrounds of the crack heads that cleaned up long enough to get a job in the TSA where they long to bust airline pilots for the suspicion of having booze on their breath.

I still don't get why these 'instant security specialists' are exempt from the same rules that we as airline pilots must adhere to when it comes to security. I can't get to the crew room at my crew base without going through the TSA security checkpoint. They can waltz through security, causing the magnetometer to go crazy for unknown reasons, and have access to secure areas where they could stash contraband for God-knows-who terrorists. All this before their background check is completed.

I feel much safer now.