Dec. 2, 1999
Undercover investigators found it surprisingly easy to penetrate security at Salt Lake International and seven other airports, according to a new report.
News Specialist John Hollenhorst has the story.
Airport authorities point out the undercover penetrations were done a full year ago, and they claim they've fixed the problems since then.
But the report certainly raises questions about how easy it would be for a terrorist or a madman to get on a plane and make trouble.
The first line of defense is a familiar sight for travelers-- a gauntlet of metal detectors and security guards.
Richard Anderson/Oklahoma Traveler: "It seems like it's pretty good here. They're all over the place, active."
But what if someone simply outflanks security by walking through an employee-only door?
It provides a route to the tarmac, where cargo pallets and planes are waiting.
David Pryor/Oxford Missippi: "Yes, it worries you. Because you don't know what lunatics are out there that could do anything to you."
Undercover inspectors for the Department of Transportation found it was surprisingly simple. They just followed an employee through the door. At 8 airports, that worked 71 out of 75 times.
Inspectors also drove through employee-only gates. That worked 7 out of 43 times.
Using various means, the undercover investigators walked onto waiting airliners more than 100 times without being challenged.
Officials at Salt Lake International won't say how many of those incidents occurred here, or provide other details about the undercover inspection.
Barbara Gann/S.L.C. Intl. Airport: "If we shared that, then the bad guys know our systems. So, it is not available."
But they learned of the findings a year ago. And since then, they say, they've beefed up employee training, upgraded security equipment and added new procedures.
Barbara Gann: "We've increased police patrols and we have an airport security committee, a coalition of all our tenants, including the airlines, that meet monthly to address these issues."
The airport spokeswoman says she believes Salt Lake came out relatively good, compared to the other seven airports. But she offered no data to back that up.
But she does acknowledge there were problems, and says they've all been addressed.
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