Senate votes to create aviation security office

The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to make the federal government responsible for airport security, approving a measure that would add thousands of jobs to the federal workforce in a new airport security office housed in the Justice Department.

Before passing the bill, Senators approved an amendment offered by Conrad Burns, R-Mont., that would place the new organization in the Justice Department. The original aviation security bill (S. 1447) would have placed it in the Federal Aviation Administration.

The bill allows airport security employees, including baggage screeners, to be fired or suspended if they fail to perform adequately. The Justice Department may also hire employees without going through the government's lengthy hiring process.

Under the bill, all baggage screeners at the nation's 142 largest airports must be federal employees. Smaller airports may use federal employees or state and local officials to screen bags. Screeners and armed airport security personnel would operate under Justice Department jurisdiction and law enforcement standards. Justice would also have jurisdiction over the training of federal air marshals, who would then operate under the Transportation Department.

Before the Senate voted on Burns' amendment, Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., noted that the executive branch opposed the idea of putting the airport security office in the Justice Department.

"The administration doesn't seem too keen on it, and the Justice Department has called to say, 'We don't really want that,' " Lott told reporters.

The Bush administration has also opposed putting baggage screeners on the federal payroll, instead proposing that contract employees under federal supervision perform screening duties. The Senate bill included an amendment by Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., that would require the airport security system to develop performance goals and performance agreements with its employees. Top-performing employees would be eligible for performance bonuses.

While the original bill specified training requirements for baggage screeners, it did not require any performance standards for airport security. Without performance standards, the government would have no way of knowing if this training was effective, according to Carl DeMaio, director of government redesign at the Reason Public Policy Institute.

"If you're not measuring performance, who cares about the training?" asked DeMaio. "There are easy ways to game a system that says you only have to go through training."

Under the Thompson amendment, the airport security chief would have 60 days after S. 1447 became law to establish performance standards for airport security. The chief would also be required to submit an annual performance plan for aviation security to Congress that would be publicly available.

Lott said the bill provides for a stronger federal security role than he favors. He said the votes did not exist in the Senate for a smaller federal role, and said problems could be addressed in conference with President Bush's involvement.

"He's not threatening vetoes, but if it's a bill that's not going to be helpful ... or positive, it's an option," Lott said.

Geoff Earle and Mark Wegner of CongressDaily contributed to this report.