TSA ramps up security checks of airport staff
The Transportation Security Administration is beefing up random security checks of airport personnel who work in restricted areas.
Following terrorist attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian plane thought to have been caused by a bomb, the TSA has begun implementing more rigorous checks.
TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson declined to say how frequent and for how long additional checks for airport staff would be.
However he cited a statement by Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson last month that TSA agents had ‘enhanced the continuous, random screening of airport/airline personnel in secure areas and encouraged US airports to reduce employee access points’.
"The TSA Administrator and I have recently concluded that we need to double-down on these airport security efforts and will be consulting with airports and airlines to do so," Johnson said.
Personnel who work at the nation’s airports are allowed to bypass TSA security lines after background checks have been completed and they are issued with a Security Identification Display Area (SIDA) badge.
However authorities are cracking down after a series of incidents where airport workers have used their security clearance to facilitate criminal activities.
A Delta Air Lines baggage handler was arrested last year as part of a gun smuggling ring at Atlanta Airport, and early this year a Federal Aviation Administration officer used his ID to bypass security for a flight while carrying a gun in his carry-on bag.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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