ATTORNEY GENERAL STATEMENT REGARDING AIRPORT
SECURITY INITIATIVE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Good afternoon. An integral part of our mission to prevent terrorist attacks is the security of the nation's airports. Today, I am announcing the first results of an ongoing, cooperative effort by law enforcement to ensure that those granted access to secure areas of our airports are worthy of the trust granted them by the flying public.

Just hours ago, federal officials completed the arrests of 94 employees at Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan International Airport on charges of widespread fraud in obtaining restricted access airport security badges. These individuals are charged with gaining access to secure areas of our airports by lying on security applications, using false or fictitious Social Security numbers or committing serious immigration fraud. Three of those arrested are fugitives from justice on state charges. All are now in the custody of law enforcement officials.

Today's arrests are the result of the unprecedented inter-agency, multi-jurisdictional cooperation among law enforcement that defines our effort to prevent terrorist attacks.

Late last year, Paul McNulty, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, formed a task force to investigate the integrity of the security clearance process at Dulles and Reagan National Airports. As part of this task force, officials from 11 agencies examined the employment records of over 20,000 airport employees. In a pain-staking and labor intensive effort, employment records for all individuals who held Security Identification Display Area badges were examined. These badges, which authorize access to secure areas of the airport, are obtained by employees on the basis of information they provide to airport officials.

Members of the task force examined employment records to determine their truthfulness and conducted criminal history checks on employees. What this investigation uncovered should be a wake-up call for every airport in America. 68 individuals employed at Dulles and 26 individuals employed at Reagan National have been arrested on charges including falsifying security applications, Social Security fraud and various immigration violations. If convicted, many of these defendants face maximum penalties that range from two years to ten years in prison plus a 250,000 dollar fine, or deportation.

As all Americans are painfully aware, Dulles International Airport – just miles from where we are today – was one of the airports from which terrorists boarded the airplanes that were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania on September 11. Our response has been to weave a web of terrorism prevention that brings together all agencies of justice and every level of law enforcement. Let me be clear – there will be zero tolerance of security breaches at our nation's airports.

We have, as well, asked the American people to take on new responsibilities and to endure new inconveniences to prevent terrorism in our nation's airports. Today's arrests and indictments are an acknowledgment that the responsibility for airport security does not fall on air passengers alone. The American people are being asked to put up with long lines and intrusive searches. Americans deserve the confidence of knowing that the individuals working in our airports are worthy of our trust.

There are many individuals and agencies to thank for the success of this investigation. I begin with Paul McNulty, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In this, as well as so many other of our anti-terrorism investigations and prosecutions, Paul and his team have conducted themselves with an exemplary kind of excellence, professionalism, and dedication.

Also essential to the success of this operation were officials from a number of other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. I thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Transportation, the Social Security Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Virginia State Police, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. The contribution and cooperation of these agencies was the heart and soul of this investigation and is the lynchpin of all our efforts to prevent terrorism. We work best when we work together. I thank each of these organizations for helping to make our airports safer and our citizens more secure. They are a tribute to law enforcement, to the nation, and to the ideal of freedom defended through law to which we all aspire.

Today's arrests are part of an ongoing effort to ensure that airport security is taken seriously by the airports and the employers that serve the nation's air travelers. All Americans have responsibilities, but only some are granted the faith and trust of the flying public and an opportunity to work in these positions of trust. The Department of Justice is determined to see that this trust is earned and deserved in all of the nation's airports.

Thank you. Now I would like to ask U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty to make a few comments.

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