Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) gathered with several New York law enforcement officials in the Capitol Wednesday to call on the Transportation Security Administration to force all airport and airline employees–from mechanics to bag handlers to food vendors–to go through security screenings every single day before entering secure areas of the airport, in light of the recent discovery of an Atlanta-to-New York gun smuggling operation.
Schumer described the operation, saying that a former Delta ramp agent with knowledge of the security plans for Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport gave guns to a current Delta ramp agent, who could bring them through the employee entrance without detection. The two would then meet in a bathroom near the terminals–past the security screening area for passengers–and exchange the guns for money. The former employee would then bring his backpack full of guns onto a plane to New York, where they’d be sold on the street.
“As the current TSA screening system stands, there is no requirement–no requirement–that all airline and airport employees be physically screened through a metal detector each day before they enter secure areas of the airport,” Schumer said. “While pilots and flight crews must pass through metal detectors before work each day, and airline passengers of course must, employees that repair planes, clean planes, load luggage, work in the terminal post-security checkpoints are generally exempt from the physical screening process.”
Schumer explained that the TSA helps each airport draw up a security plan that meets its needs based on size, layout and other unique factors. TSA has certain requirements for each security plan, and Schumer is asking that another requirement be added–that every employee every day pass through a security screening area before reporting for work.
“We are calling on the TSA to immediately implement a national requirement that all airports develop a daily screening plan that works for their facility. There is simply no good reason to not take this step,” he said. “In an age of terrorism, rampant drug rings and gun smugglers, carrying guns and other contraband onto airplanes should not be a walk in the park. Gun runners, drug smugglers and even would-be terrorists can use this giant loophole, God forbid, and we have to close it as soon as we can.”
The senator said he has spoken to the TSA about this matter, and the TSA stands by its employee security measures that are based on background checks rather than daily physical screening.
To accommodate all the additional employee screenings without causing lengthy waits for passengers or employees, many airports would have to purchase additional metal detectors. More TSA agents might be needed to conduct the security checks as well, though Schumer could not provide a dollar amount associated with his request.
“We do not believe it will be very expensive,” he said. “When the TSA comes back with their plans, if they come back to us and say it’s going to be very expensive, we’ll take a look at that. But I can’t imagine it would be.”
He said about $5 per plane ticket goes to TSA costs, and “a few pennies more–which I don’t think it will be much more than that, if it’s that at all–for safety, I think people will say it’s worth it.”
Schumer said he was hopeful TSA would do the right thing and implement these changes quickly, but he said he’s ready to hold up the confirmation process of the next TSA administrator or the Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill to force the issue.
“When the new TSA nominee comes to me, I will certainly ask them their views on this, which will influence my view as to whether they deserve confirmation,” he said. “By the way, I do have a lot of faith in Jeh Johnson, I think he’s a great secretary of Homeland Security. And I’m hopeful he will look at this personally and come up with solutions. Other times when we found lapses in one way or another, Johnson has been excellent.”
“We’re hopeful the TSA will answer our call now, but if not, legislation is something I’d look at, yes,” he said.
Schumer stressed that gun smuggling was a serious consequence of this security loophole, but he worried that much worse could happen if airport and airline employees continue to have unfettered access to secure areas.
“Our focus here is on guns, but remember, this is not just limited to guns,” he said. “Drugs, obviously, drug smugglers could use this. And the thing that’s most fearsome of all is someone with explosives, whether it’s a terrorist or somebody who is deranged or whatever. So this is a really serious problem.”