Deal nets 231 more screeners for airport

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

A late-night deal secured 231 more airport screeners for McCarran International Airport, Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced this morning.

The senators said they agreed to support former Navy Rear Adm. David Stone's confirmation as head of the Transportation Security Administration in exchange for Stone's promise to send more screeners to McCarran.

The senators had held Stone's nomination in limbo because they believed the administration had not allocated enough screeners to McCarran.

"There was no way I was going to allow this nomination to proceed until I was completely satisfied that we had enough screeners to provide for the safety of the people who travel through McCarran," Ensign said in a written statement.

Ensign, as a member of the Commerce Committee, which oversees the TSA, put a hold on Stone's confirmation.

"For Las Vegas to have fewer safety resources than cities with fewer passengers was outrageous," Ensign said. "That situation has been fixed, and I'm confident Admiral Stone will do a fine job as TSA director."

The deal increases the number of screeners at McCarran from 823 to 1,054, Ensign said.

Airport officials had been concerned about not having enough screeners when the D gates open early next year, but the new screeners are expected to be in place by then.

The airport also has new security lanes opening for the C and D gates next month.

"With this agreement, we have addressed one of McCarran's top concerns," Reid said. "The increased number of screeners will reduce wait time and increase safety."

Reid lifted a hold he had put on all non-judicial Bush administration nominees to allow Stone to be confirmed, his spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. Reid had put a hold on nominations until his staff member Greg Jaczko, who has been nominated for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, gets a confirmation hearing for that job.

The number of screeners at McCarran paled in comparison to the number of screeners allocated to similar airports, McCarran spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said.

The TSA originally had allocated only 35 new screeners for McCarran, which would have brought the total to 777 screeners for more than 36 million passengers, Sanchez said. Nevada's congressional delegation complained and got the number raised to 823.

Similarly sized Phoenix Sun Harbor has 920 screeners for about 37.5 million passengers, and the smaller Orlando airport had 1,035 screeners for 27.3 million passengers. Newark, N.J., has 1,320 screeners for 29.5 million passengers.

"We're very happy about the additional screeners," Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director of aviation for McCarran, said. "The new number of 1,054 will give us the capability of staffing all of our new lanes."

The airport has recently been forced to ask its current screeners to put in a lot of overtime to keep the lanes staffed during peak periods, Vassiliadis said. Now airport officials will be able to better staff the lanes and reduce passenger lines without burning out their workers.

"That's terrific news for what we've been trying to accomplish here to get us back to a seamless transition at the screener checkpoints," Vassiliadis said.

Making sure McCarran could keep up with the droves of tourists pouring into Las Vegas was a priority for the senators, Jack Finn, Ensign's spokesman, said. Long waits, such as the airport saw earlier this year with a change in the screening process, could have been disastrous for the city's economy, he said.

"Basically he (Ensign) recognized that above and beyond the safety concerns, if passengers are having to stand in a security line for one hour or more, that's going to put a damper on tourism, which is the lifeblood of Las Vegas," Finn said.

Finn said the new increase in screeners should fill McCarran's needs at least through the end of the year, but that the senators are dedicated to making sure the airport has sufficient security.

"I think the senators have shown through their willingness to put a hold on Admiral Stone's nomination that they are willing to fight very hard and very effectively to get whatever McCarran needs," Finn said.

Local representatives of the TSA did not return calls this morning.