Spokane among first airports to get federal security crews

Associated Press

SPOKANE — Security screeners at Spokane International Airport will be among the first in the nation to become federal employees.

Employees at 15 airports across the country will make the switch from private screeners to full federal employees in April or May, U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman James Mitchell said.

The change is one of several safety measures adopted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Screeners nationwide were formally placed under federal supervision as contract workers earlier this month.

Over the next eight months, the government will replace most of them with 35,000 to 40,000 screeners and security agents. About 100 screeners in Spokane could be replaced under the new guidelines, Mitchell said.

The first 15 airports were selected to be representative of other airports, which will switch to federal employees later in the year, Spokane International spokesman Todd Woodard said Tuesday.

The Transportation Security Administration chose Spokane as a good example of a midsized regional airport.

"They wanted to implement the program locally and then see what challenges they are faced with, and make corrections for the other (414) airports," he said.

The country’s 414 other major airports will move to full federal staffing by the end of November.

Advertisements for the Spokane jobs probably will appear in mid- or late March, Mitchell said.

Spokane’s current screeners are employees of Olympic Security Services of Seattle. The company has provided screeners at the Spokane airport for nearly 15 years. Olympic screeners can apply for the federal jobs and could be hired if qualified, Mitchell said.

"Our goal is to create a career-minded worker group," he said. "This will be a significant change in level of qualifications needed and professionalism."

Olympic Security workers make about $8 an hour, but federal screeners will make at least twice that amount. At some airports, screeners will start at around $28,000 a year and move up to around $30,000, Mitchell said. They also will get insurance and other benefits that private security screeners don’t receive.

The government is hiring private search companies to recruit security screeners, Mitchell said.

Congress created the Transportation Security Administration in November as part of federal efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks. A part of the Department of Transportation, the agency oversees airport and airline security, formerly the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Security Office.

In addition to changing all private screeners to federal workers, the Transportation Security Administration will require most of the country’s airports to add bomb-detection equipment for checked baggage. Federal law requires the equipment to be installed in Spokane by the end of the year.

The cost of buying and installing the equipment will be covered by the Transportation Security Administration, said Pete Troyer, chief of security at Spokane International Airport. Some of the costs are being borne by airline passengers, as well.

Since Feb. 1, every leg of a domestic flight includes a new $2.50 surcharge that goes toward paying for the new federal security measures.

Tours of the selected airports earlier this month included employees of the Marriott hotel chain and the Disney Co. for their expertise in dealing with large numbers of people.

None of the 15 cities studied by the Transportation Security Administration have any notable security issues, Mitchell said.

The 14 airports joining Spokane in the first wave are: Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago O’Hare; Dallas-Fort Worth; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis; Mobile, Ala.; JFK in New York; Orlando, Fla.; and San Francisco.