TSA and Phoenix Airport Make Quick Changes to Increase Airport Security
News & Happenings
July 24, 2007
Amidst concerns about after-hours employee access to concourses at Phoenix Sky-Harbor International Airport (PHX), TSA and the airport have implemented several changes to ensure that local security procedures are in compliance with national requirements concerning screening employees with access to concourses and other areas beyond the security checkpoint.
TSA has taken over after-hours security screening at PHX and will now screen employees entering the airport's concourses and their property 24/7. All employees working in concourses, as well as goods sold in the "sterile area," are screened before entering those areas. The concourses of most major airports either remain secure 24/7 or are inspected before the checkpoint opens each morning.
In addition, TSA has examined all other after-hours operations nationwide to ensure compliance with federal security standards.
"TSA and our partners at Sky Harbor were rapidly able to close a potential loophole in aviation security," said TSA's Western Area Director David Beecroft. "Ensuring airport and aviation security at all hours of the day is paramount and we were able to fortify any deviations from that undertaking literally the same day we became aware of the issue."
There is no indication that passengers at PHX were endangered or that a security vulnerability exists.
Click here to read about TSA's employee screening.
