More Problems With Airport Security
WASHINGTON (AP) - Seven of 20 employees who screen passengers at Washington Dulles International Airport, where one of the hijacked planes took off last month, were given other assignments after failing written examinations, government investigators said Tuesday.
The investigators tested the screeners during a probe at Dulles and 13 other airports. Teams from the Office of Inspector General and Federal Aviation Administration are looking to see whether background checks required of security employees were done.
A screener must receive 12 hours of training, pass a written test and be retested every year.
The investigation began after federal prosecutors accused the company that handles security at the 14 airports, Argenbright Security Inc., of failing to make background checks at Philadelphia International Airport. Government investigators were sent to Philadelphia, and separate teams went to 13 other airports staffed by Argenbright employees.
Besides Dulles, Argenbright handles security at Boston and Newark. The four planes commandeered by terrorists in the attacks that killed more than 5,000 people flew from those three airports, although the two that originated in Boston were from airlines that do not use Argenbright.
Federal prosecutors charged last week that the company hired criminals to staff security checkpoints at Philadelphia airport even after being fined $1 million last year for failing to check the backgrounds of its workers.
The FAA-OIG investigators found this week that screeners at Seattle and some other airports had prior criminal records that should have prevented them from getting those jobs. Federal officials would not identify the other airports.
In addition, the investigation found seven screeners at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport who were undocumented workers and therefore should not have been employed there. The employees are being detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Last month, the inspector general began investigating whether undocumented workers were working illegally at Dulles checkpoints. Under federal law, only U.S. citizens or holders of green cards or work permits can work at security checkpoints, where all passengers and carryon baggage are screened for weapons.
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On the Net: Transportation Department inspector general: http://www.oig.dot.gov
Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov
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