TSA officials hoping for end to random security checks

WASHINGTON -- Random security screening of people about to board planes could be phased out next year as Transportation Security Administration chief James Loy tries to make air travel less burdensome.

As better-paid, better-trained federal workers take over at airport security checkpoints, there is less need for an additional layer of security at the gate, TSA officials say. The deadline for all commercial airports to have federal screeners is Nov. 19.

Once all the federal screeners are in place, Loy wants to start phasing out the random searches on an airport-by-airport basis, TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said Monday.

The TSA launched a pilot program Tuesday in two California airports in which federal workers identify and screen all passengers at the main security checkpoint. All customers will have to get boarding passes before passing through security, the TSA said.

The pilot programs are being conducted at Los Angeles International Airports Terminal 4 in cooperation with American Airlines and at Long Beach Municipal Airport in cooperation with JetBlue Airways.

Paul Hudson, executive director of the advocacy group Aviation Consumer Action Project, said he's alarmed by what Loy is proposing.

Backups to the backups

"The best security involves multiple layers, where you have backups and backups to backups," Hudson said. If the random gate screening is eliminated, "you're saying there's only one check and that's at the main security gate."

A spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, said the random checks are unnecessary.

"Random gate screening doesn't really add any additional measure of security," Michael Wascom said via cell phone from Tampa International Airport, where he was about to be screened at the gate. He said more sophisticated passenger and baggage screening makes random gate screening unnecessary.