Special TSA force helps secure Democratic convention

DENVER -- A special squad of 100 Transportation Security Administration employees has been helping out at the Democratic National Convention this week, as labor groups that plan to support Democratic candidates call for the screeners to be granted collective bargaining rights.

The TSA screeners are under the direction of Secret Service, which is overseeing security at the convention. "We brought in additional officers from our national screening force; they're available to travel to different airports based on need," said Carrie Harmon, a Rocky Mountain regional spokeswoman for TSA.

That group, the National Deployment Force, has existed since TSA was created in late 2001. Members are not based at any one airport so they can travel to events as needed without pulling security personnel away from regional airports. The National Deployment Force has provided protection at major sporting events like the Super Bowl and in disaster areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Transportation security officers from the National Deployment Force are working only in Denver and will not travel to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., next week. TSA will provide 50 security officers to help with screening in St. Paul -- half the number used in Denver -- but the screeners will come from airports rather than the special squad.

The agency's security officers are trained in identifying suspicious behavior. The agency also will deploy K-9 dog teams to assist in explosives detection.

But even as TSA officers were moving delegates into and out of the Pepsi Center in Denver, their rights to form a union were a topic of conversation at the national convention. Sen. Barack Obama has been a long-time advocate for collective bargaining rights for TSA employees, and the AFL-CIO, which is running a get-out-the vote campaign to support Obama's candidacy, has said this is one of the key issues that distinguishes the Democratic candidate's views on running the government from those of presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

Federal employee groups were eager to make the point that national security concerns do not outweigh the need for TSA employees to have collective bargaining rights.

"The transportation security officers providing security at the Democratic convention are honored to do so," said National Treasury Employees Union president Colleen Kelley. "However, if collective bargaining rights were in place for these employees, the process for selecting employees for special assignments and dealing with overtime and leave issues during peak travel times would run much more smoothly and equitably than it does at the current time."