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Professional Screeners Hired to Improve Airport Security
Monday, November 18, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

"We did most of the rollout in a very short period of time," Mineta said. "In fact, 90 percent of the screener hiring has occurred since July of this year, at a pace of over 3,300 people per week."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Starting Nov. 19, all of the nation's 429 commercial airports will be staffed and secured by professional screeners, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge announced today.

"More than 44,000 dedicated men and women have been hired, trained and deployed to screen passengers and ensure the safety of our skies," Ridge said during a press conference with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta at Reagan National Airport. "Each has received more than 100 hours of classroom and on-the-job training for this important responsibility."

Airlines are critical, vital arteries of America's global economy, Ridge said. "The Wright brothers would be astonished to learn that 8 million flights, nearly 600 million passengers and $12 billion in freight go through U.S. airports annually."

By hiring professional screeners, the Transportation Department has met the one-year deadline set by President Bush when he signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act on Nov. 19, 2001. Mineta created the Transportation Security Administration, a new agency that began work in January with about a dozen employees.

"At the time of the signing," Mineta recalled, "America was still suffering from a widespread fear of flying. A half mile from here, burnt walls at the Pentagon were a visible reminder of 9-11. At airports throughout the country, long lines of nervous Americans watched as screeners, ill-prepared and ill-equipped for the new wartime reality, struggled to check passengers. National Guard troops patrolled our airports, and the press and the public wondered if adequate security could ever be restored."
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan