Encountering Turbulence: So how goes the federal takeover of airline security?

When Congress hastily decided last November that the federal government would take responsibility for airline security, it was expected that 30,000 new federal workers would be needed to protect the flying public. Six months later that estimate has shot, well, sky-high. By February, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was outlining its need for 42,000 new federal screeners and supervisors. The figure then jumped to 68,000 -- but not for long. "A month ago, the number of employees had grown to 73,000, and we said, 'Whoa,'" says Republican congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on transportation. The TSA plans to create a new law-enforcement agency -- responsible for security in every kind of transportation -- that is larger than the Departments of Energy, Labor, State, HUD, and Education combined.

"The minute they doubled the number of screeners, I felt vindicated," says Rep. John Shadegg, Republican of Arizona. Shadegg had joined a House majority in support of a plan that followed the Israeli and European model: a well-trained private-sector airport-security force under strict government oversight. But when the administration dropped its objection to a unanimously approved Senate bill that federalized the security force, GOP opposition in the House collapsed. Shadegg did vote against the final legislation, declaring, "If you think government employees can't make mistakes, you'll love this bill."

Recently, the CEO of American Airlines finally voiced publicly the industry's conviction that the new government security gurus are far from mistake-proof. In a Dallas speech to hundreds of airport executives -- who repeatedly interrupted his remarks with enthusiastic applause -- Don Carty labeled parts of the security-reform regime "both nuts and needlessly expensive. It is not unpatriotic, and it shouldn't be taboo, to acknowledge that there will be no point to any of this if we don't reconcile tighter security with a level of convenience that is acceptable to our customers."

But fear remains about second-guessing the TSA's agenda. A senior appropriations aide explains that congressmen are willing to meet the TSA's sky-high spending demands because "if something bad happens," they dread being told that "Congress wouldn't give us the money we needed": "The degree of sensitivity on this stuff can't be overestimated."

The TSA has resolved to spare no expense in its race to meet congressional deadlines for a federal screening force. As a result, its budget request for this year has almost tripled -- to $6.8 billion -- in the past few months. When the House recently provided $4 billion for the agency, transportation secretary Norman Mineta promptly complained about being "shortchanged" because he got only 90 percent of what he requested to cover the agency's plans for the remainder of the year. He warned senators that their constituents would experience long delays at the airport if the Senate didn't ante up.

But a growing chorus of critics argues that airline passengers will face frustrating delays whether or not the TSA gets its money. A recent article in the New York Times travel section lambasted the present security system that treats all airline passengers as potential hijackers. A spokesman for the American Association of Airport Executives points out that either profiling or a "trusted traveler" option would "make the haystack smaller" in the search for that needle that poses a hijacking threat. Ethnic profiling, however, is a no-go for the Bush administration; and, according to a transportation-industry lobbyist, TSA chief John W. Magaw opposes permitting frequent fliers who undergo thorough background checks to avoid the TSA's "robust and redundant security."

All of this redundant security demands redundant staff. By November 19, the TSA must assume operational control of security at the nation's 429 commercial airports. The agency is busily hiring 429 Federal Security Directors (FSDs, with a salary range of $105,000 to $150,000), most of them former military and law-enforcement officers. At the larger airports, FSDs will be supported by four assistant FSDs. FSD Area Directors will be based at TSA headquarters in Washington, along with about 900 other supervisors and staff. Airports will also enjoy the services ...