“Sky Harbor’s not safe and hasn’t been for a long time.” So says one airport employee at the Phoenix, Ariz., airport.
The Transportation Security Administration has been going home at midnight and returning at 4:30 a.m. During those hours, it’s easy to walk into the sterile areas of the airport entirely unscreened.
An undercover investigation conducted by KNXV-TV in Phoenix turned up the security problem. At midnight, TSA screeners turn off the metal detector, X-ray machine, and all the other moving parts, and go home. Then at 4:30 in the morning, the day shift turns them back on and starts screening again.
But between midnight and 4:30, anyone with an employee badge can walk right past the airport security guards into the secure areas without ever having their bags checked.
Employee badges are easy enough to get, or to fake. And sometimes, the TV station found, the security guards were even sleeping.
Even more surprising, some of the people you trust to keep you safe planned it this way.
Larry Wansley is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top airline security experts. “It’s a frightening situation, I’ve just simply never seen anything like it,” he said. “I really honestly have not.”
He’s the former head of security for American Airlines, and currently consults the U.S. Government and airports around the world. We brought him in to take a look at what we found. . . .
A flight attendant, with three suitcases in tow, flashed her badge and breezed by. A huge load of newspapers on a cart was also pulled right passed the guard and a floor cleaner was pushed by without any inspection. Even a guy with his bike just showed his ID and was able to ride through with his crate on the back, never checked.
In the time we watched, dozens made it past this checkpoint, bags unchecked. — KNXV-TV
It seems that Homeland Security’s approach to security is to make a big show of security and to hope that nobody points out the holes. But anything that a television crew can see is something that a terrorist can see as well. TSA officials at the airport initially said that it was the City of Phoenix’s fault for not screening incoming employees.
But TSA head Kip Hawley said Monday that the situation would be rectified immediately. He placed the airport’s federal security director on paid leave and said that 24-hour screening would begin Monday night. Maybe he’s not as much of an idiot as we all thought.
(News tip submitted by Kevin Craig)
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Richard Braakman
Jul 23, 2007
I’ll grant him the “not as much of an idiot” gold star if he thinks to check if any other airports have the same problem. I suspect he’s just in PR management mode, and wants to be seen to be doing something.
D Moore
Jul 23, 2007
After special screening due to a last minute schedule change due to weather problems in Texas, we went to our gate and a TSA woman employees approached us and made us go back for rescreening that included pat down searches becuase THEY had failed to properly screen us.
Rescreening would not recover any item that was smuggled in so the rescreening seems to be too late to rectify whatever the infraction was (They would not say what it was).
D Moore
Jul 23, 2007
I failed to say that the above incident was at Sky Harbor last Thursday
Javarod
Jul 23, 2007
Laughs, “Let me tell you a few experiences with Sky Harbor Airport. Back when I worked for a vending company, I was the back up driver for the airport route, and had to be security checked before entering the airport. What’d the check consist of? Open the back door so they could look in, but they didn’t look in the dozen and a half or so cases of chips on board, nor in the giant (5ft tall) cooler at the front of the truck. Think that was bad? Now I’m a cab driver, and when they heightened security because of the London and Scotland terror incidents, they searched random vehicles… except cabs, limos, sedan cars, shuttle vans and buses. Gee, it’d be so hard in deregulated Phoenix to slap a fake cab together and drive in with a bomb, wouldn’t it?”
Shakes his head, “Security has never been good at this airport, or rather in the last two years that I’ve worked in and around it.”
Fixer
Jul 24, 2007
The security of the airport facility itself is actually the responsibility of airport management, usually through the airport police department. TSA only provides oversight. Most airports don’t operate 24 hours a day, and many hire private security to staff access points during the times that TSA personnel aren’t present.
In this case, the airport failed to monitor the private security folks, who failed to do their jobs. The Phoenix TSA Federal Security Director failed to have his Regulatory group check up on everyone else. And, above all, Hawley ruins a good thing (FSD investigated) by doing something stupid (making the screeners shift to a 24-hour operation) in a effort to appear as though he’s doing something.
It’s a Sky Harbor everybody-screw-the-pooch dance party!
Kip Hawley
Jul 24, 2007
I have aspirations of getting to “not as much of an idiot” status so, in fact, we did check every airport in the system for similar issues.
Our standard for the “sterile” passenger concourse area during off hours is one of three categories: 1)closed and locked down; 2)physical screening of concourse employees; 3)swept prior to opening of passenger screening.
Full disclosure: there are people at airports who have access based on job need and background check who do not need to be physically screened. — Kip
miche
Jul 26, 2007
But Sky Harbor doesn’t need the dog and pony show anymore. They have the backscatter machine.
Marcel
Sep 26, 2007
Hi Kip. It`s great to read a comment by someone from TSA. This shows me that you really care about the problems. By, Marcel – who flys three times next week.
Pasquale
Oct 15, 2007
So if the airport pay’s a private security firm then what is the name and was Sky Harbor airport security responsible for the murder of Carol Gotbaum or was it the police?