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CNN Sunday Morning

Airport Security Contracts Assumed By Government

Aired February 17, 2002 - 08:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to more on the newly created Transportation Security Administration. That's the agency taking over airport security today. CNN's Kathleen Koch is following the transition. She joins us live from Dulles Airport near Washington. Kathleen, can you see a difference?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne, you will see absolutely no difference when you come to airports around the country today. Those more well-trained, highly paid screeners will not be in place -- these government screeners -- until the end of November. Basically what happens today is that the federal government more or less assumes the contracts that the airlines have had for years with these private screening companies.

What that means is that even problem-plagued screening companies like Argenbright Security, that the Transportation Department said last week it would not sign any contracts with, they are still on the job at airports around the country, including this one here at Dulles International Airport. Now that is troubling to a lot of people. However, the White House says that this transition period is necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) indicated that in the 90-day period it's essentially a series of management changes. The reason Congress made it a one-year period of change is they do not want to disrupt the traveling public by forcing such a precipitous and immediate change in the takeover by the federal government of safety at the airports that would harm the traveling public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now the reason we're hearing from the White House on this subject and not the Transportation Security Administration is that the TSA last week banned television coverage of its first (UNINTELLIGIBLE) record briefing on this important transition for no apparent reason. And that has raised concerns about how will this new agency react when there is good reason to block coverage when there is a security breech that perhaps threatens the safety of the flying public? Will they likewise try to cover that up, try to inhibit coverage?

So a lot of serious questions on this issue. Also important to point out, when these 40,000 screeners end up in place in November they will have no whistle blower protection. The protection that every other federal employee enjoys. So that if they see any problems with how this new agency is conducting its business, they will have no protection from potential retaliation -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Kathleen Koch at Dulles Airport, thank you.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Well what does this shift in airport security responsibility mean for passengers' peace of mind? Michael Miller, Editor and Chief of "Aviation Daily," joins us now from our Washington bureau to talk about what the change might mean.

Michael, are we any safer with this change?

MICHAEL MILLER, EDITOR, "AVIATION DAILY": Well, as Kathleen pointed out, it's a management change today. Actually, I think there's more accountability today. The government can no longer point fingers at private security. In the airlines, government now is going to have the fingers pointed at it. So we're going to see, hopefully over time, more and more changes at the airports. But today it's cosmetic.

MESERVE: How is the Transportation Department coming along with this whole issue of hiring screeners, training screeners, getting federal employees ready to take over these functions?

MILLER: As of today, we're supposed to have one security manager in every one of the major airports in the country. I think it's somewhere around 290 airports. But beyond that, there's supposed to be a total of 50,000 new people in this Transportation Security Administration. And to follow along with what Kathleen mentioned, this off-the-record briefing, I've covered the Pentagon in the past and it seems like the -- the Defense Department was a little more open than the Security Administration is.

MESERVE: Why is that? Any idea?

MILLER: I don't really know. I think that they should be a little bit more forthright with the details because there's a lot of concern about this transition. There's airport terminals being emptied for no apparent reason; somebody kind of wanders through security. And a city is at a standstill for six hours. So we need to have a little more calmness in this whole process.

MESERVE: Kathleen also mentioned the fact that these employees are not going to have whistle blower protection. Does that bother you?

MILLER: Yeah, it does. I mean there are some major advances that we've had in this country because different people within government have blown the whistle on bad practices. And if there's anything that needs a bad practice watch dog, it's airport security right now. I think it's a done deal; we don't have any choice.

MESERVE: Why? MILLER: Well there are some rules that have been set up that -- for airport security that are just set up because Congress wanted it or somebody in the administration wanted it. This process has been -- there's been a lot of knee jerk. There hasn't been a lot of planning. There's a lot of new equipment, nobody knows how much of the new equipment is coming in.

MESERVE: Well they didn't have much time, did they? I mean this was sort of thrust upon them in the last couple of months.

MILLER: That definitely is fair. But if this is so critical, we need to stop worrying about confiscating nail clippers and having a little better long-term plan. I haven't seen any plan.

MESERVE: The pay is supposed to improve, has improved. Is that going to make a significant difference? And how much of a pay differential are we talking about?

MILLER: You know I don't think the pay is going to make a difference. I mean there will be more law enforcement people involved; more people with better backgrounds than somebody who has, you know, the fry job at McDonald's. And, sure, you're qualified to do airport security. But I don't think that that is the issue. It's more of the accountability. And so there can't be any lapses without government investigation. So I think I'm a little more confident going forward that I've yet to see major changes.

MESERVE: Now we all know ticket prices have gone up to pay for some of the security, but does the Transportation Department have the money it needs to make all of these changes? Was this budgeted properly?

MILLER: First of all, it wasn't, and I think Congress knows that. Congress is basically given the Transportation Security Administration a blank check right now. And that's a little bit disconcerting. Right now the Congress committees who are overseeing this are waiting for DOT to come back and say, "Well it's really going to cost another $5 billion a year or $8 billion a year." Nobody really knows -- that goes back to my comment before about long-term plan. It would be great to have one.

MESERVE: The transportation, with great fanfare last week, announced that it wasn't going to do business anymore with Argenbright Security, the firm that has been so problematic over time. But, in fact, Argenbright is still on the job today, isn't it?

MILLER: Yeah. That's a really terrible situation. I wish Argenbright would go away. They've had numerous cases against them. But I think we're going to see them disappear very quickly. I think they're the first to go, and everybody within the administration knows that.

MESERVE: Michael Miller, Editor and Chief of "Aviation Daily," thank so much for joining us today.

MILLER: Thanks, Jeanne. MESERVE: I appreciate it. I'm flying later, I hope it's safe -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I hope so, too.

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