FAA expands background check for airport workers.
AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2001 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, has stepped up its security
efforts and will now require criminal background checks on up to one million
workers with access to secure areas of airports and aircraft.
Jane Garvey, the FAA Administrator, also told a National Press Club audience
on 17 October that the government's action of shutting down national airspace
after the attacks on the World Trade Center had possibly thwarted more planned
hijackings.
The expanded background checks will apply to workers hired before 2000 while
regulators already have the authority to require background checks on employees
at the USA's 20 largest airports hired after 2000. It is also expected that
Congress will be asked to expand that programme. The FAA has also required the
revalidation of identification badges worn by airport employees and will match
them against FBI watch lists.
The expanded background check programme will take a little while to set up
and will include baggage handlers, maintenance employees, aircraft cleaners,
caterers and other airline and airport personnel and private contractors with
access to areas immediately around and inside an aircraft, according to Reuters.
Garvey indicated that federal funds were now available for airports to
purchase fingerprinting equipment.
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