Big Layoff For Airport Screeners?

(AP)  As many as 3,000 airport screeners could lose their jobs this spring as the government reassesses the size of the work force that it brought to full strength only last November.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration, James Loy, told a House Appropriations subcommittee that he wants to reduce the number of screeners from 54,000 to 51,000 - cutting about one in 18 - and that layoff notices could begin going out April 1.

By October 2004, the government plans to have 48,000 screeners, with reductions through attrition and other steps, an agency spokesman said later.

The chairman of the homeland security panel said that at Groton/New London Airport in Connecticut, 26 federal screeners check an average of one passenger every five hours. Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Kentucky, estimates screeners at a third of U.S. airports check an average of three passengers an hour.

The effort to trim the screening work force comes as Congress scrutinizes Loy's agency, now in its second year of existence. Lawmakers say they want to make sure the agency is doing what Congress intended, including tightening security for the transportation system.

Rogers said he is disappointed by what he said was the agency's emphasis on aviation security at the expense of highways, railroads, pipelines and ports.

"You need to take a good hard look at our border and transportation systems," Rogers told Loy. "If we have a weakness, it will be found."

Other lawmakers said they were concerned about holes in security in public transit systems and cargo shipping.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation's subcommittee on aviation said he intends to review the agency's security measures at airports and on planes.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has suggested moving federal air marshals to coach so airlines do not lose revenue from first-class seats. He also thinks airports may need to be given more flexibility in protecting themselves from terrorist attacks.

Rogers has been a strong critic of the agency's staffing levels, which Congress capped at 45,000 full-time positions last year. Despite the cap, the agency hired 9,000 temporary employees, most of whom had five-year contracts.