Logan Tests Screening Workers
In January, CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian exposed how airport workers including baggage handlers, mechanics and cleaners across the country enter restricted areas of airports through side and back doors without being physically checked like passengers.
In an effort to better control employee access, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) announced this week that they are testing special checkpoints at different employee entrances around Logan. The program will run through mid-July.
With the assistance of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, each employee who goes through a special checkpoint is searched for explosives and other dangerous or prohibited weapons.
Logan spokesperson Richard Walsh would not disclosed details of how the screening is being executed for security reasons but he did say it is only in the pilot stages and not fully implemented. "We are looking to see what we would really need to have a program like this," said Walsh. Wait time, operational impact and costs are all factors.
TSA spokesperson Ann Davis told CBS News, "whether it will continue remains to be seen." Logan airport officials would like to be able to screen all 14,000 of their workers 100 percent of the time and this program is a way to see if that is even possible.
Four aviation security experts CBS News spoke with today say they are pleased the program is being attempted at a major airport and they have their fingers crossed.
The TSA, which mandates airports, does not require employees to be physically screened but an airport could decide to do it on its own.(Note: the TSA recently announced it now randomly screens airport workers.) So far out of the 425 commercial airports where the TSA operates passenger checkpoints only 2 physically check workers on a daily basis: Miami International and Orlando International airports. If all goes well, Logan could possibly be the third.