ALPA's President, Capt. Duane Woerth, on January 24 issued a statement blasting a final rule announced that day by the FAA that would revoke the airman certificate of any pilot, mechanic, or dispatcher if the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) finds the person to be a "security threat." Such action would effectively end that worker's employment in the airline industry.
Capt. Woerth acknowledged, "The government has a legitimate interest in keeping terrorists off of airplanes, both as passengers and as airline and airport employees." This draconian rule, however, "is rooted more in '1984' than in Sept. 11, 2001," he declared. "While ALPA has strongly supported most of TSA's actions to increase aviation security, this rule clearly crosses the line separating legitimate security measures from secretive, unaccountable government conduct.
"While the rule spells out in clear detail the process by which the revocation would occur," Capt. Woerth pointed out, it includes "absolutely no discussion of standards, procedures, or criteria" by which the TSA might decide that a person is a "security threat."
"Furthermore, while the individual may appeal the initial finding," he continued, the final rule makes "no provision for the individual to obtain any information as to why or how the determination was made, which makes the appeal virtually an empty exercise."
Capt. Woerth warned, "The unanswered questions about how one is determined by the TSA to be a 'security threat' should evoke a chill in every American. Pilots and other workers would be unable to invoke the traditional right to access and refute the information that is being used against them."
He added that ALPA was disappointed that "the rule was introduced in final form, with no opportunity for meaningful comment, and with no notification to the portions of the
aviation community that have an interest in, and worked actively with the TSA, on security issues."
Capt. Woerth emphasized that airline pilots, mechanics, and other airline workers already are required to clear a 10-year criminal background check with fingerprinting.
"Conviction for a wide range of crimes, ranging from serious violations to relatively minor infractions, already will effectively end an airliner worker's employment in the name of security," he said. "This latest rule apparently lowers the bar to mere suspicions that are not the result of the kind of due process that most Americans would expect before they are branded as a security threat."
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