-Caveat Lector- http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/terrorism/air_travel/1230screeners.html
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Dropouts will be allowed as airport screeners DOT decision dismays advocates of tighter security Man got on Delta flights with gun By MARY LOU PICKEL Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Under the new federal airport security regime, security screeners who check passengers' baggage won't even need a high school diploma to land the job. When Congress passed the law to upgrade airport security after Sept. 11, it trusted the Department of Transportation to determine details of the job qualifications for screeners. Advocates of tougher security -- including flight attendants' groups -- insist screeners should at least possess a high school diploma. But the Transportation Security Agency, the new Department of Transportation organization created to supervise transportation security, decided earlier this month that a high school diploma isn't necessary if candidates have a year of on-the-job experience. "We don't want to disqualify anyone with one year of experience just because they don't have a high school diploma," Transportation Security Agency spokesman Paul Takemoto said. "They'd be a valuable asset." The decision dismays advocates of tighter airport security, including groups representing flight attendants and business travelers, who had expressed hope that federalization would lead to an upgraded work force. "We're dealing with very sophisticated and trained individuals who are trying to blow up our commercial aircraft," said James E. Hall, until recently the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "These screeners are going to be an important line of defense, and it seems to me we should have higher educational standards for them. If all we're doing is recycling the existing screeners, why have we made this tremendous investment in creating a federal work force? It sends the wrong message." The new agency will take over airport security screening contracts from private companies Feb. 17. At that point, anyone who is hired to be a screener will have to follow new federal guidelines that will require screeners to be U.S. citizens and pass an examination and show proficiency in English, said Jim Mitchell, an agency spokesman. As recently as Dec. 20, the DOT said in a news release that "screeners must be U.S. citizens, have a high school diploma and pass a standardized examination." But Mitchell said Saturday that statement was an "error," and that attachments to the press release detail the more lenient requirements. Those requirements spelled out in the law passed by Congress in November allow screeners' experience to be "sufficient for the individual to perform the duties of the position." The guidelines say that applicants must have a diploma or "one year of any type of work experience that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position." The agency has not said what kind of work experience would qualify, but a spokesman said it would apply to screeners who have been on the job for a year. Critics say the point of the new federal law was to upgrade the work force, not to retain the current workers, criticized in recent months for slipshod performance. Kevin P. Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents many large corporate buyers of travel services, said passengers have the right to expect a basic educational level from the screeners. "This job is more than just looking at an X-ray screen -- it's about looking at people and interpreting their answers to questions and making judgments," Mitchell said. "As much as anything here, we have to restore the confidence of the American people and the integrity of the aviation system, and I think most people would view the lack of a high school diploma with some alarm." The Association of Flight Attendants, the largest flight attendants union, protested the lack of an education requirement, saying it fears the government will hire too many of the same screeners who allowed terrorists on the planes in the first place. Security screeners now working for private companies are already required by the Federal Aviation Administration to speak, read and write English and to demonstrate their ability to operate X-ray equipment and conduct physical searches of passengers. Transportation agency officials say the new law toughens the requirements with a criminal background check and a passing grade on a new test that will measure aptitude, ability to deal with the public and English proficiency. Those requirements will apply to all new screeners hired after February. Existing screeners may stay on the job, but by November 2002, they will have to reapply and be hired by the federal government under the new requirements. Because of the high turnover in low-paying private screener jobs up to now, anyone who has remained in the job for a year has the kind of experience that the federal government will prize, say union officials who represent current screeners. "Anyone who can go through the training and pass the new tests is clearly qualified for the job, whatever their educational level," said Jono Schaffer, director of security organizing for the Service Employees International Union, which represents screeners in Los Angeles and San Francisco. "The only important requirement is whether they can perform the duties of the job." A security screener at Hartsfield International Airport who identified himself as Mike Johnson said he believes a high school diploma should be a prerequisite for the job. "This is a serious job and you have to take it seriously," he said. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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