Closing Airport Security Holes

(CBS)  Airport workers know the shortcuts to avoid the passenger screening areas, and use them to save time. The Washington Post reports terrorists could use those same tricks to gain access to commercial airliners. That has aviators worried.

"There are so many ways to breach security, it would make your head spin," a Dulles Airport ramp worker told the paper.

The newspaper reported Monday that many entrances to restricted areas at the suburban Washington airport do not have metal detectors or security screeners. All it takes to get near a plane is a an easy-to-steal electronic identification card.

And it's not just Dulles: There are security gaps at all three Washington airports, as well as many others around the country.

Since Sept. 11, beefed-up security at airports has concentrated on passengers, right down to their shoes, but not on the "back doors" of airports.

Dulles Airport officials insist workers like baggage handlers and food service employees are subject to several levels of security beyond the identification cards, including background checks before they're hired, the vigilance of other workers, and automatic logs of who goes through those checkpoints.

It doesn't completely reassure pilots and flight attendants.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to come up with the conclusion that if I devote all my resources and attention to one segment [of security]...and delay attention [elsewhere], I'm asking for trouble," Capt. Bob Miller, a pilot for United Parcel Service and president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, told the paper.

On Friday, New York Gov. George Pataki announced a plan to tighten security at his state's biggest airports, replacing card-key systems with fingerprint scanners, and adding surveillance cameras and motion detectors at entry points.

Security for the non-public areas of airports is the responsibility of local managers and airport authorities, not the federal government.

Airport workers know how to get around tighter security, too. One flight attendant told of encountering a gate agent who had forbidden items (scissors and a nail file) in her purse. She said she'd just go in through baggage claim rather than through the security checkpoints.

A Dulles ramp worker told the paper he often uses a door in baggage claim when he's in a hurry.

"If you're late for work three times, you get written up," he said. "Instead of taking a chance on getting in trouble and being suspended, you go through the door so you don't have to go through the security line."

The door that leads from the Dulles baggage claim area to parked planes is secured by an electronic lock and a security guard - but when a reporter from the Washington Post visited, the guard was 20 feet away and not paying attention to the door. Any airport employee with the proper security card could open the door.

"Anyone who wants to do harm to a plane knows how to get past security without getting caught," one ramp worker told the paper. "If everybody knew what I know, there probably would be a lot less people flying."

After Sept. 11, airports were told to run background checks on all employees with access to secure areas. Dulles has about 15,000 such employees, but so far has only checked 75 percent of their fingerprints and or whether they have criminal histories.

There's less security at cargo handling and general aviation (private plane) sections of the airport, and those with access to those areas can go from there to the commercial airlines areas.