AIRPORT BOLSTERS SECURITY AFTER SMUGGLING BUSTS

Miami International Airport today will unveil sweeping new security measures
that require all airport workers to undergo inspections and bag checks as
they enter and leave restricted areas.

The changes follow back-to-back smuggling busts that exposed widespread
security lapses at MIA. Scrambling to stop the free-flowing drug and weapon
smuggling, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and county officials will announce
reforms they say go beyond federal requirements.

Among the reforms, according to a report obtained by The Herald:

Random inspections of all vehicles leaving the airfield at checkpoints
staffed by Aviation Department security personnel and U.S. Customs and
Miami-Dade Police K-9 units.

Mandating that all employees entering restricted areas log in and out every
time they come and go, and banning access during workers' off-duty hours.

Controlling the types of personal bags employees can carry in restricted
zones, such as aircraft ramp areas. MIA will require those workers carry
see-through bags that will be subject to search. In the next 60 days, MIA
hopes to issue 25,000 transparent bags.

Conducting criminal background and warrant checks for all people seeking
unescorted access to secure areas -- and expanding the list of felony
convictions that prevent the issuance of security clearances.

Hiring 50 new airport security staff. Aviation officials plan to have them
on board by the end of the year.

The goal, Penelas said, is to require airport workers to clear the same
kinds of security checks regular travelers face.

"We're trying to treat the employees much like we treat the traveling
public, but in some cases with more scrutiny," Penelas said. "By adding all
these additional security layers, it will serve as a deterrent. It will make
people think twice about doing this."

Many of the reforms are a direct response to security weaknesses exposed in
the recent busts, first on Aug. 25 and then Sept. 9.

In the first case, 58 employees -- many working as American Airline baggage
handlers and ground crew -- were charged with smuggling drugs, hand grenades
and guns onto passenger jets. Federal law enforcement officials were amazed
at how easily the workers passed through MIA unchecked.

In the second case, 15 workers for other companies were charged with
smuggling cocaine aboard planes. They hatched some of those plans on the
very day American workers were being rounded up from the first bust.

In both cases, ramp workers used their security badges to gain unfettered
access to MIA's airfields and restricted areas, carrying their goods inside
knapsacks on works shifts and days off.

The centerpiece of the new reform: Inspecting all employees and vehicles
accessing restricted airfield areas, including searches of their bags.

Seven checkpoints, manned by MIA security staff and police units, ultimately
will include X-ray machines and metal detectors by the end of the year,
county officials said. But for now, they are manned by guards who physically
inspect workers.

"If you're a ramp worker, if you are a maintenance worker anywhere near the
airplanes on the airside, then you will be subject to these inspections,"
Penelas said Sunday.

Said Nelson Oramas, MIA's assistant director for security and safety: "If
you work on the aircraft ramps, we're going to subject you to that
screening. Coming in and out."

Oramas said the airport ran a 48-hour test on the expanded checks last week.
"Most employees were expecting it," he said. "And they said this was a long
time coming."

MIA said the checks go beyond federal mandates. A spokeswoman for the
Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the agency does not require
inspections of workers entering and leaving restricted areas. "The searching
is not a requirement," said the FAA's Kathleen Bergen.

Penelas and Oramas said airlines and unions agree with the increased checks.

But the mayor said he's not sure how unions will react to the see-through
bags that will be issued to workers over the next 60 days.

"If you want to bring stuff on the airside, you're going to have to use the
transparent bag," the mayor said. "When we distribute the transparent fanny
bags, we'll see how they react."

Another change would go beyond current FAA requirements relating to the
prescreening of workers seeking security clearances.

The FAA now requires airlines to put potential employees through a screening
process including a criminal background check. The rules say security
clearances can't be given if an applicant has been convicted of any of about
two dozen criminal offenses in the last 10 years.

There are loopholes: Applicants convicted of crimes not on the list could
still get clearance.

Penelas wants to add some crimes to the list, including convictions for
offenses involving theft, fraud, dishonesty or misrepresentation. Penelas
said he will recommend the list be expanded nationally.

Other security steps are planned. The county will lobby for U.S. Customs, on
the front line investigating drug trafficking on international flights, to
add dozens of additional staff and deploy extra mobile X-ray vans.

"We're significantly exceeding the FAA requirements to protect MIA against
any threat," Oramas said of the changes. "The series of arrests did bring to
our attention additional vulnerabilities, and they've served as a catalyst
to fast track the program."