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TIA Guards Don't Catch Mock Bomb

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By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 29, 2008

Updated: 01/29/2008 12:11 am

TAMPA - An undercover officer successfully carried a simulated bomb past a federal security screener at Tampa International Airport on Friday, officials said - although the failure has led to "remedial training" instead of any major change in airport security.

The Transportation Security Administration agent carried a mock, wallet-sized bomb attached to an elastic back support in a security test that a CNN crew filmed with TSA's cooperation, officials said Monday.

"He gets through, which in real life would mean a terrorist was headed toward a plane with a bomb," CNN.com reported Monday.

Federal and airport officials said the results of the security test did not indicate any particular shortcoming in security at Tampa International. The airport was selected for the exercise because it was next in TSA's testing rotation, said TSA spokesman Jonathan Allen in an e-mail from Atlanta.

"This testing is not designed to test an individual officer or airport, but to find vulnerabilities in the system and drive improvement through training," Allen said. "Immediate remedial training was provided to the officer."

The TSA provides passenger security screening at various airport checkpoints among its other functions, although Tampa International Airport police provide overall airport safety and security and back up TSA, airport officials said.

"I'm not aware of any security problems at Tampa International and I have been informed that these tests are being done all across the country," said airport director Louis Miller. "It is my understanding that the TSA is using these tests as a training effort to enhance the screener's ability to search for specific items that someone may try and get through the security check point."

Miller said local TSA employees constantly test their screeners at TIA.

Security Tactics Questioned

TSA security operations and $5 billion in annual airport security expenditures have been a controversial issue ever since the federal agency was created after the Sept. 11 attacks with hijacked airliners.

Critics have pointed to numerous, publicized security breaches in tests and in passengers gaining access to secure areas with contraband, in addition to complaining about delays passengers sometimes face in security lines.

The Government Accountability Office last year reported that agents were able to smuggle bomb-making material past various airport checkpoints and that TSA fell short on seven of 24 performance benchmarks.

In one recent example, the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., reported on Jan. 18 that screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport failed to detect a passenger headed to Tampa through Atlanta with a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade in a carry-on bag. The passenger passed through the same terminal checkpoint terrorists used before hijacking a United Airlines flight on Sept. 11, 2001, the Star-Ledger reported.

Michael Boyd, an aviation industry consultant from Evergreen, Colo., and a long-time critic of the nation's airport security strategies, called Friday's Tampa test an attempt by TSA to "inoculate itself" against criticism. TSA did not say Monday how many security tests in the past have been accompanied by news media.

"CNN got played like a fiddle," Boyd said in a telephone interview. "The TSA wanted to show that they work hard and know about their problems.

"We don't have airport security. We have security for pointy objects," Boyd said. "We are not safer than before 9/11."

Testing In Tampa

The Tampa intrusion took place at Airside C, one of the outlying terminals connected by a tram with the airport's main terminal.

Passengers at the main terminal are asked to show their tickets and photo identification before boarding the shuttle. Once they arrive at the airside, all passengers must pass through a metal detector and allow their carry-on baggage to be screened and searched. Passengers are selected randomly to be tested in a "puffer" device, which is designed to detect trace amounts of explosive material.

In Friday's test, the undercover agent set off a metal detector alarm and told the screener who patted him down that the alarm was triggered by his metal knee, CNN.com reported.

The screener patted down the undercover agent, including his lower back where he was wearing the support concealing the mock bomb, CNN.com said. The undercover agent told the screener he has a bad back in addition to the metal knee.

The TSA told CNN.com that it was not concerned with showing the test to the public because techniques such as the one used in Tampa "are known to terrorists and openly discussed on known-terror Web sites."

The TSA declined to respond to Tampa Tribune questions regarding those Web sites.

TSA conducts thousands of covert tests every year at airports coast to coast, said Allen, the TSA spokesman.

"Our goal is to utilize intelligence to identify vulnerabilities and drive improvements through training," he said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com.

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