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Airport Security: Agency will Rethink McCarran Cuts

Less than two days after it announced it plans to reduce its McCarran International Airport security force by 15 percent, the Transportation Security Administration instead said Friday it will review the airport's staffing situation before it makes any changes in Las Vegas.

"(McCarran's staff size) is going to be one of the very highest priorities for review at the headquarters level," Tom Blank, TSA assistant administrator for policy, said Friday. "We'll see whether we come out with additional changes that may affect the actual number of jobs and whether or not actual job decreases are in fact reality."

Blank's comments at the airport followed a Wednesday announcement that TSA plans to eliminate 6,000 screener jobs at 231 airports nationwide by Sept. 30, including the loss of 149 federal screeners from McCarran's current total of 983.

The moves are required to trim the agency's budget for fiscal 2004 to $4.82 billion, down nearly 20 percent from this year's $5.98 billion total, the agency said.

TSA's plan to reduce McCarran's screening force incensed airport officials and several members of Nevada's congressional delegation. Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., each criticized TSA's plans Thursday.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker demanded TSA Administrator Adm. James Loy explain why he believed fewer screeners are needed at the nation's seventh-busiest passenger airport.

Blank said Loy told him by phone Friday morning that he was "keenly aware" of the concerns raised by members of Nevada leaders and added Loy is prepared to re-evaluate changes at the Las Vegas airport based upon recommendations from TSA's top local official, McCarran Federal Security Director Jim Blair.

Should McCarran end up with fewer screeners, Blank said the remaining work force has gained enough skill and experience to provide the same level of security that now exists at today's staff level.

That assumption was challenged, however, by several McCarran representatives who said passengers at the airport often wait more than an hour to pass through checkpoints and would likely experience additional delays should TSA make its cutbacks.

"We're understaffed," said Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County deputy director of aviation, who added an early TSA assessment called for at least 1,100 workers on-site. "We did not get our full complement from the get-go, and when we increase our security lanes, it's going to get worse."

McCarran now operates 22 passenger checkpoints airportwide, with three new lanes set to come online in early June. The airport also plans to expand its checkpoints leading to the C- and D-gates concourses by fall 2004, thereby increasing its total number of checkpoints to 32.

Mike Boyd, presid ent of The Boyd Group/ASRC, on Friday criticized the decision, calling TSA an "out of control" organization that wastes millions in taxpayer dollars.

Boyd, whose consulting company is based in Evergreen, Colo., contends U.S. airports such as McCarran already have enough workers to screen passengers without lengthy delays, though problems arise because TSA does not use its existing staff efficiently.

"Take a look at how many people you see at airports just standing around. That's horse manure," said Boyd, a frequent critic of the TSA, who added a reduced number of airport screeners would primarily hurt sales at airport coffee shops because "you'll see fewer TSA people on breaks."

Still, Boyd believes passengers will ultimately suffer from the pending cutbacks -- particularly in tourism-heavy destinations such as Las Vegas.

"It'll hurt Las Vegas severely," Boyd said. "That's why whoever is running the airport there shouldn't be asking why these people should be cut. They should be grabbing Loy by the throat and asking, 'Why aren't these people being used properly?' "

"Instead of using his staff efficiently, he (Loy) will just say he doesn't have enough people. It's bureaucracy first, security third ... and I don't know what's second."

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