FAA orders checks on all aviation personnel

By Beth Lewandowski
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Acting to tighten airport security, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered that all aviation employees whose badges give them access to restricted areas undergo a scrutiny of their employment histories, and said it may call for criminal background checks, too.

The order, issued last Wednesday, is part of an effort to revalidate all aviation employees following the September 11 terrorist attacks, federal aviation officials said.

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It also requires airlines to check employee records for names that might be on the FBI's watch list of possible terrorist suspects, according to a senior government source.

The FBI shared its watch list with National Air Transportation Association members at a security briefing Friday, asking the group for its full cooperation as the government investigates other suspects who might have access to the nation's airports, an association official told CNN.

The association represents aviation business providers including mechanics, fuelers and parts suppliers, as well as flight schools and charter airline companies.

Concerns about access

The FAA security directive comes amid reports that the hijackers may have had access to airline badges and uniforms, and may have had accomplices in secure areas of airports.

In addition, two men arrested in the terrorist investigation in Detroit, Michigan, last week were found to have identification for an onboard airline caterer at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport. They also had diagrams of an airport flight line, including aircraft and runways, police said.

Since 1995, the FAA has required 10-year employment history verifications and possible criminal history checks on anyone seeking unescorted access to secure areas of airport terminals serving scheduled carriers. The checks include airport and airline employees, plus employees of contractors who have access to aircraft, runways or other secure areas of terminals, according to federal standards.

Until December 2000, officials ordered criminal checks only if an employee had an unexplained gap in employment. That month, the FAA began phasing in mandatory fingerprint scanning and criminal checks for all new aviation business employees.

The federal order requires that every aviation business ensure that employee records are up-to-date and comply fully with FAA rules. Each company also is to reissue or in some way revalidate employee badges to indicate that it has complied to the federal order.

The FAA was also scheduled to issue new regulations on background checks for airport screeners and screening companies last week. That regulation has not gone into effect, pending the results of a probe by the Airport Security Task Force, which Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta created after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.