Airports meet screener deadline

The deadline for all federal passenger screeners to be in place is Tuesday.

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RELATED • Transportation Security Administration  CNN Access:Mineta: 'Higher standards' for new screeners  • Judge temporarily lifts ban on non-citizen airport screeners  VIDEO The U.S. government has met the deadline for replacing the mixed bag of companies in charge of screening airport baggage with federal employees. CNN's Patty Davis reports (November 16) PLAY VIDEO SCREENER SNAPSHOT 44,000 new passenger screeners will be deployed New passenger screeners will be in place at 429 commercial airports nationwide Screeners will make $25,000-$35,000 annually Roughly one-third of new screeners are military veterans About 15% of new screeners were selected from private screening companies Source: TSA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Bush administration announced Monday it has staffed U.S. airports with a federal work force of 44,000 passenger screeners, meeting one of two important deadlines required by Congress for overhauling airport security.

"You will see those blue and white uniforms everywhere now," said Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, the year-old agency that oversees airport security.

The deadline for revamping passenger screening at more than 420 airports, set by lawmakers soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks, is Tuesday. A second deadline to equip the same airports with technology to screen checked bags for bombs and hire another 20,000 people to handle that job is December 31.

But Congress is expected this week to give airports another year to comply with the bag-screening mandate. That work cannot be completed on time at up to 35 airports because of logistics and cost, federal officials and airport executives have said.

While the government has struggled with the bag-scanning deadline, meeting the timetable passenger screeners was, for the most part, never questioned. But the initiative was not free of controversy.

There were recruiting glitches, second-guessing on funding, and complaints about labor provisions. Screeners will not have collective bargaining rights and only limited "whistle-blower" protections.

And questions remain about whether the job was rushed and if it could have been done with fewer people and less money.

The passenger and baggage security initiatives were ordered even though no government or law enforcement investigation concluded that airport screening was compromised before the attacks.

Many in Congress were unimpressed with the airlines' minimum-wage-earning screeners and considered the system potentially vulnerable because of high turnover and limited training.

The White House fought creation of the all-federal force as part of the fledgling Transportation Security Administration, preferring private-sector workers with rigorous government oversight. But a majority of lawmakers believed airport

security in the aftermath of the attacks was a national security priority, and wanted to employ federal personnel to reassure the public.

As part of a pilot program that could be expanded down the road, five airports, including San Francisco and Kansas City, will be staffed by screeners from private companies overseen by government supervisors. Federal screeners will staff 424 airports.

Security experts optimistic

Lawmakers have approved more than $6 billion to fund the agency's first year, which has focused on the two screener programs and a security plan for ports. But some Republican leaders have questioned agency decision-making, and have vowed to restrict funding and impose new caps on screener staffing.

Most security and industry experts expect some growing pains. But there is optimism that the decision to offer passenger and bag screeners more money than the industry was willing to pay, and to emphasize training, professionalism, and potential career advancement will pay off.

"If the government fulfills its obligation and supervises those screeners, then I think it will be better than it was before," said security expert Charles Slepian. "They will meet their deadline by hiring enough people, but are those people trained?"

Johnson said the screeners now on duty are either fully trained or near completion of their on-the-job instruction. Training includes more than 40 hours of classroom work and 60 hours on-the-job experience.

Screeners, who will make between $25,000 and $35,000 annually, must have a high school diploma and pass a series of background checks. Roughly one-third are military veterans and about 15 percent were selected from private screening companies, Johnson said. A requirement that the screeners be U.S. citizens has been challenged in court.

Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition, a group that represents corporate travel managers, is confident the new airport security system will eventually strike a balance between tight scrutiny and traveler convenience. He believes as the federal force gets more experienced there will be faster-moving lines and fewer glitches at checkpoints.

"After a couple of years, this will prove to be the best model," Mitchell said.

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