Airport chief not sold on private screeners

Jace Radke

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker said he doesn't know what the benefit would be in replacing federal screeners with private security forces at McCarran International Airport.

Walker was one of hundreds of airport executives who heard about the new plan to allow airports the option of privatizing screening during a speech by Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson at the Las Vegas Hilton on Wednesday.

The plan would allow airports to apply to use private screeners beginning Nov. 19, but the Transportation Security Administration will choose the security company and manage and pay the screeners.

"If they (the TSA) are going to dictate the number of screeners and dictate the salaries then what's the point of opting out?" Walker asked. "We need to look at the rules and structure that is being planned and weigh the positives and negatives of it before we make a conclusive decision.

"We need to see what flexibility we would have, but if the federal government is going to dictate I'm not really sure where the benefits are."

Hutchinson outlined the plan at the American Association of Airport Executives Conference and said he didn't know if a switch to private screeners would be advantageous to airports.

"It gives airports a choice," Hutchinson said. "We believe that the federal screener workforce has performed admirably, but it's important to have a legitimate option for airports to consider."

Hutchinson said that airports could give advice as to what security provider would be used, but that the TSA would make the choice.

"We will maintain authority and insure compliance with screening standards," Hutchinson said. "We will have direct management of the screeners."

Hutchinson said that studies conducted in San Francisco, Kansas City, Rochester, N.Y., Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Tupelo, Miss., the cities with airports that have been testing private security screeners, show that federal screeners and private workers are roughly equivalent when it comes to cost, effectiveness and security.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House transportation aviation subcommittee, has estimated that as much as 25 percent of the nation's 429 airports will opt for private security. Hutchinson cautioned that if that were to happen the federal screeners at those airports would not be reshuffled to airports in need of additional screeners like McCarran.

There is a cap of 45,000 screeners nationwide, and the TSA is only budgeted to pay for that many screeners whether they are private or federal.

A second option for airports looking to opt out of federal screeners is for the airport to apply to create its own security force in the form of a new for-profit business, but that is not an option at McCarran, Walker said.

A public agency, like the Clark County Department of Aviation, is prohibited by the state constitution from operating a for-profit business, Walker said.

The TSA released a 20-page document Wednesday with a basic outline of the steps airports need to take to apply to opt out of federal screening.

"It's a work in progress at this point," Walker said. "My expectation is that when I read it there are going to be a lot of unanswered questions."