Airport Screeners' New Guard

Hiring a private company to conduct airport screening is attractive to many airports because they have seen poor or inconsistent performance by the Transportation Security Administration, which employs 45,000 screeners at more than 400 airports. Although the government raised the standards and recruited better-paid and better-trained employees at the checkpoints, several airports said the agency has been slow to hire enough screeners and has had difficulty retaining them.

Dulles, for example, suffers from a 21 percent attrition rate, among the highest in the country. Other airports, such as Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport, at one time had passengers waiting for three hours in security lines because the TSA did not have enough workers at the checkpoints to match the increase in traffic as travelers resumed flying.

Sometimes, the District-based federal bureaucracy hinders operations, airports say. Every time a security screener leaves the job, the TSA headquarters sends its contractor to the city to set up a recruiting, testing and training program, which can take weeks. Even TSA managers stationed at each airport cannot hire or fire employees, even though the TSA said it is working to change that model.

"It takes so long to replace someone" who leaves the job, said Randy Walker, director at the Las Vegas airport. "It is so painful . . . and the local manager has no control."

Security firms working at the pilot airports say they have more flexibility to hire and train employees quickly. None of those airports plans to part with the private companies.

Jackson Hole Airport director George Larson said he was pleased by his airport-run pilot program. He said he is able to turn a 10 percent profit by assigning screeners other airport tasks, such as cleaning and directing passengers to their gates, when the security lines are slow. Larson said he recently gave a talk about his security model at an airport conference in Las Vegas.

"It was standing-room only," he said.

If private security firms win approval, they will be required to maintain the government's standards, ensuring that each security screener speaks English, has a high school diploma or equivalent and passes a background check.

Security screeners working for private firms must be paid a compensation package at least equal to the $12.50-an-hour wage plus benefits that the federal government offers, and the firms must give TSA employees priority in hiring.

In the battle for new screening contracts, U.S. companies are touting their made-in-the-U.S.A. quality to airports. The year-old Coalition of American-owned Security Companies, which is trying to recruit members, said U.S. airports should be served by U.S. companies. "There was doubt at some point that there aren't enough [U.S. firms] out there," said Montgomery, of Barton Security. "We want to show a strong front. You don't need to look elsewhere. There are enough to choose from."

The foreign-based companies insist there is no danger in employing a U.S. affiliate of an overseas operator. "You ought to come up with some sort of system to allow these contracts to be awarded to the very best security firms," said Jay Stone, a lobbyist who represents Wackenhut, whose parent company is based in Copenhagen. "Don't exclude them because they happen to be associated with a foreign [country], which is Denmark, one of our closest allies. Why should you punish them?"