Homeland Security dep. steps up screening of aviation employees

Homeland Security dep. steps up screening of aviation employees

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TSA airport security

Allegations of gun-smuggling by airline employees last year, have brought the Department of Homeland Security to tighten screening requirements for airport and airline employees today. The DHLS decided on the new regulations following a three-month review. The changes mean, that all airport and airline employees traveling as passengers will now have to go through the same TSA security screening everyone else goes through.

Additional restrictions decided upon include airports having to reduce the number of ways to access secure areas, as well as aviation employees being screened more often, including randomly throughout the workday. According to Politico, aviation workers will also have to submit to a bi-annual “fingerprint-based criminal history records check”.

Two Senate Democrats were quick to praise the action. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the new steps a “prompt response and a significant first step,” but also said “more is needed.” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees the TSA, said it’s a “decent first step. But we need to continue to look at the long-term picture and see how we can broaden this in a cost-effective way.”

According to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson the additional screening decided upon will not “completely eliminate potential risks.” The new regulations are temporary, until such time as the TSA can set up a real-time system for criminal background checks.

In the gun-smuggling case, authorities said four men including a Delta Air Lines baggage handler were able to smuggle guns from Atlanta to New York on board airplanes, including getting the guns through security. One of the defendants was traveling using the “Buddy Pass” privileges of his mother, a retired Delta gate agent, ABC News reported at the time.