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JFK Airport Plot Renews Calls for Worker Screening

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 5, 2007

Bills on that subject are moving through both houses of Congress in the wake of weekend arrests that involved a planned four-man attack against a JFK fuel depot and pipeline.

Three suspects, one of them a former Kennedy cargo handler and another a former parliament member in Guyana, were detained by authorities while the fourth surrendered to police in Trinidad.

Although screening a million airport workers seems like a herculean job, passage of a pilot program – to be tried in seven cities – seems probable. That program would screen workers for weapons as they arrived at their jobs.

Airport employees already are subject to background checks, which accused Kennedy-plot mastermind Russell Defreitas previously passed, and random searches, which have intensified over the past year.

According to Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley, such checks need to be even tougher. He endorsed that approach when he testified before Congress two months ago.

Nine aviation groups, including the Air Transport Association, support stricter screening standards for workers and are lobbying Congress to get them. In addition to better background checks, they would include better video surveillance and new ways for workers to report suspicious activity without endangering themselves.

An FBI informant was the key player in the year-long surveillance that led to the arrest of the alleged Kennedy Airport plotters.

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