Airports Consider Own Screeners
Some airports are serious about wanting to exercise the option in the law allows them to switch to private baggage screeners late next year.
The airport officials question the speed and flexibility of the Transportation Security Administration's staff, which is facing cutbacks that could lead to longer lines, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss.
One airport industry official told the Washington Post that the airlines don't want the lines that customers now face at INS and Customs offices.
There's a law that allows airports to decline the federal screening program, and have the TSA select a private contractor.
Steve Van Beek, whose Airports Council International-North America represents airport owners, said some operators aren't so much interested in switching to private screeners as putting "some pressure on TSA to perform the function better." He said airports want the TSA to "have a 10-minute standard, adhere to it, and staff it adequately.
"(The airport operators) think they can do a better job, that they can hire part-time people, they can exert more control to make sure they have enough people during the peak times of the day when passengers move through their airports," he added.
TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said he doubts that the lines at security checkpoints will be as long as the airports predict.
Some of the discussion stems from recent congressional pressure for the TSA to cut costs, raising howls of protest from airports slated to lose some screeners.
Meanwhile, the Post reports that private screening companies that used to staff security checkpoints before the terrorist attacks, and some companies that have little experience in screening, are preparing to enter the business.
Aviation security experts warn that private firms face a large public relations hurdle in distancing themselves from the image of Argenbright Security Inc., a now-defunct company that became a symbol of low-paid workers whose high turnover and poor English-language skills contributed to airport security lapses.
"It's the wrong message in the war on terror," said Peter Winch, national organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees, whose group is trying to organize TSA screeners. "For TSA, just supervising a bunch of contract operations would lead to different standards at different airports. It would get away from one national security system."