Melissa Ross
Florida Senator Bill Nelson has been pressing lately on the FAA to pay for TSA screenings of all airline and airport employees who have access to secure areas.
The flap arose after an incident at the Atlanta airport in December when a baggage handler was nabbed smuggling more than 100 guns onto outbound flights.
Nelson, in an email outlining his remarks from the Senate Floor, points out that Miami International Airport “has already solved the problem.”
The fix, as the TSA announced, are new, more stringent regulations for screening airport and airline workers.
Said Nelson: “Well, interestingly, when I got into this from the position of having the privilege of being the ranking member of the Commerce Committee where we have the jurisdiction over aviation, lo and behold what I discovered in my own state, two airports had already solved the problem by increasing security, similar security that we as passengers go through, similar security for all airport employees.
“And the first one to do this was Miami International Airport back, way back in 1999 after they had discovered a drug-smuggling ring, and instead of having hundreds of entry points into the airport for employees, instead what they had was boiled down to a handful where in fact they would have the screening of the employee.
“It was then inaugurated by the Orlando International Airport after 2007 when they discovered a drug smuggling ring and Orlando has boiled it down to about five entry points for airline employees. I went through those entry points at both Orlando and Miami, and it is not only what we go through as passengers but they also have the double check that the person is who they say they are because they’ve got their badge, the airport employee checks the photograph on the badge with the person. They swipe the card, and in the case of the Orlando airport, they also have to punch in an identification number.
“That seems to have solved the problem at those two huge airports, Orlando and Miami. But what about the other 448 commercial airports in the United States?”
The TSA also came under fire last year when an ex-TSA agent wrote about the agency’s low morale and “abuse of public trust.”
