FAA to Test Security Steps at 16 Major Airports

The Federal Aviation Administration, using special teams of inspectors, plans to put security programs at 16 major airports to the test next year, officials said Wednesday.

Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV said the FAA teams will “focus on high-volume airports . . . to determine if security initiatives have been implemented and to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the civil aviation security program.”

The FAA has come under criticism in Congress in recent months for allowing lax security at major airports.

Burnley said that the FAA teams also will take a close look at security programs at the airlines that serve the 16 airports that are being targeted. None of the airports was identified, but officials said they include virtually all of the largest.

A recent report by congressional investigators said that security at major airports is so poor that, at one, five fake weapons and explosives went undetected at security checkpoints and that at some of the airports investigators were able to wander virtually at will in restricted areas without being challenged.

Airport security problems also became a focus of attention after a shooting aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jet on Dec. 7, causing the plane to crash in Central California, killing all 43 people aboard. Investigators believe a fired USAir employee, seeking revenge on his former boss also aboard the plane, smuggled a gun onto the jet after bypassing normal security screening at the Los Angeles International Airport.

The FAA did not identify the airports under the special security watch, although the FAA said they include those with high volumes of traffic. Other sources have identified six of the airports as Los Angeles International, Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield, Washington National, Miami International and New York’s John F. Kennedy.

Burnley said in a statement that the special focus on airport security, including unannounced tests of security programs, will begin next month and continue throughout 1988.

FAA spokesman Bob Buckhorn said FAA teams “will be trying to duplicate actions of potential security violators using their techniques in an attempt to see if they would be effective.” If the FAA employees are successful “we’ll be moving to close the loopholes,” Buckhorn said.