Under the new regulations, all checkpoint screeners, their supervisors, and anyone with access to secure airport areas or with unescorted access to airplanes would be subject to a criminal background check.
The list of disqualifying crimes includes murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated assault, and illegal possession of a controlled substance. It does not include drunken driving, an offense that was a stated concern of the pilots association.
Anyone found to have committed a disqualifying offense would be given a chance to demonstrate that his or her criminal record contains inaccurate information before any disciplinary action was taken.
Under existing regulations, no person with access to secure airport areas had a background check before 1996, and no screener was subjected to such a check before 1998.
Legislation passed by Congress in 2000 required background checks for incoming pilots and screeners at several dozen of the nation's largest airports, but it would not apply to those working in the hundreds of smaller airfields until 2003.
Among those supporting the broader checks is the American Association of Airport Executives, which represents airport managers at all points, ranging from the solo operator at Wolf Point, Mont., to executives at busy O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
''After Sept. 11, we think you have to do three things: put more fixes on the airplanes, which the airlines have done; have more professional screening, which is in the process of happening; and provide better security around the perimeter of parked airplanes, which is our responsibility. One way to do that is to know who you are providing access around parked airplanes,'' said Charles Barclay, president of the airport association.
The background checks to be imposed are part of the airline security legislation passed last month by the Senate. The House has passed a companion bill, but final legislation and any of the final provisions remain in doubt because the two chambers disagree about whether airport security workers should be made federal employees, or should remain employees of private security firms working under heightened federal guidelines and supervision.
In recognition of the stalemate and the concerns among the traveling public about safety, Garvey is preparing to impose the regulations under her authority to secure the aviation system.
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