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Airport Screeners to Frisk Same Sex
By Jonathan D. Salant
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 13, 2002; 10:41 PM

ARLINGTON, Va. Screeners at airport checkpoints will not frisk passengers of the opposite sex, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday.

John Magaw, who heads the security agency, said male security agents would pat down males and females would do the same for females.

"You will not have a male frisking a female," Magaw said.

In addition, the security agency is setting standards for when to frisk at airport checkpoints, Magaw said.

Said Transportation Secretary Norman Y.  Mineta: "We want every passenger to be treated with respect."

The Association of Flight Attendants said hundreds of its members reported being touched inappropriately by screeners of the opposite sex.

Read the Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24000-2002Mar13.html

WASHINGTON -- Security checkpoints have displaced turbulent skies and labor disputes as the leading cause of airport delays, aviation experts said Tuesday.

"The delays [of 2000] have not disappeared," said David Plavin, president of the Airports Council International, a trade group. "They've just moved from the air side to the terminal side."

Plavin said that security checkpoints have become the new bottleneck for passengers, noting that they are asked to arrive at least 90 minutes before their flight.  Before Sept.  11, customers often could arrive within minutes of a flight and still board their planes.

Read the Chicago Tribune article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0203130230mar13.story?coll=chi%2Dbusiness%2Dhed

Transportation Secretary Norman Y.  Mineta yesterday named eight people with backgrounds in law enforcement to serve as the nation's first federal security directors assigned to specific airports.

The directors, who include four former or current U.S.  Secret Service agents and former Los Angeles police chief Willie Williams, will oversee cargo and passenger screening and have the authority to shut down any part of the airport where there is a security breach.

Read the Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24227-2002Mar13.html

The post-Sept. 11 rush to fingerprint airport workers has revealed felony arrests or convictions for more than 275 employees at San Francisco and San Jose airports -- 10 percent of those checked so far this year.

But that hasn't kept any of them from reaching the planes or runways.

As of Tuesday, not one Bay Area airport employee had lost high-security clearance this year as a result of the new mandatory background checks.  San Francisco Airport officials told the Mercury News they are working to revoke badges for eight airfield employees whose felony convictions violate airport security rules.

Read the Mercury News article: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/2847656.htm