Isle airport
among safest

Airport security's detection
rate ranks Honolulu fourth
out of 32 tested cities

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Star-Bulletin staff and news services

Security screeners at Honolulu Airport detected hidden simulated weapons and explosives about 90 percent of the time in tests last month by the federal government.

That detection rate put Honolulu fourth out of 32 airports tested around the country by the Transportation Security Administration.

"We always strive to improve our security," said Honolulu airport manager Stanford Miyamoto, who declined to comment specifically on preliminary results of the tests.

Screeners in Miami, Newark, N.J., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranked as the top three among airports tested.

Screeners in Los Angeles failed to detect the weapons 41 percent of the time.

Overall, fake guns, bombs and other weapons got past security screeners almost one-fourth of the time at 32 major airports, a TSA official told the Associated Press yesterday.

At three airports -- Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Jacksonville, Fla. -- undercover testers got weapons past security at least half the time, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said the findings were incomplete and the testing period ended yesterday.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Greg Warren said by telephone from Washington that the agency strives to continually improve safety.

"It is our job to check our security system, on what the trouble spots are, when training our federal screeners," Warren said.

"The goal, which is one of the reasons for the test, is not just to make sure people feel safe, but to ensure that they are safe."

Honolulu security airport officials have previously said Honolulu is one of the best-protected airports in the country with high-tech explosives-detection machines, canine detection teams, increased security measures and military, federal, state and civilian law enforcement officers.

In February the TSA, rather than the airlines, began supervising airport checkpoints, but the screeners continue to work for private companies.

Federal employees are supposed to replace them by Nov. 19.

Transportation Department spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said the security agency is going to retrain screeners at airports with high failure rates.

"The preliminary results of the testing of security screeners are unacceptable and reflect the failures of the aviation security system inherited by the federal government," Alcivar said.

"The TSA will subsequently return to these airports and conduct unannounced retesting of security screeners at those airports."

Another TSA spokeswoman, Mari Eder, said the agency continues to test how well the screeners find weapons and explosives to help the agency improve security.

Currently, government employees are screening passengers at only three airports -- Baltimore, Louisville, Ky., and Mobile, Ala. -- but the security agency said last week it will begin overhauling checkpoints at more than 130 other airports this month. That is the first step toward replacing the private screeners with an all-federal work force.

But progress toward hiring screeners may be delayed unless Congress approves a supplemental spending bill that includes some $4 billion for the agency, said Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

In a letter to lawmakers, Mineta warned it would be "nearly impossible" to meet the Nov. 19 deadline if the money was not approved.

In addition, he wrote, the security agency would have to suspend purchases of explosive-detection equipment and delay reconstruction of airport checkpoints.

Office of Management and Budget spokesman Trent Duffy said the White House would transfer at least $250 million to the TSA until the supplemental bill passes.

In May, President Bush transferred $760 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Transportation Department's inspector general office earlier conducted its own undercover tests of 32 airports after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and found screeners missed knives 70 percent of the time, guns 30 percent of the time and simulated explosives 60 percent of the time, said a person familiar with the report.

Those tests were conducted before February, when airlines still supervised security checkpoints.