Government takes over airline security on Sunday, hopes passengers won't notice

Saturday, February 16th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP)_ Responsibility for airport security is moving from the airlines to the Department of Transportation starting Sunday, a change officials hope will be so smooth that passengers hardly notice.

The switch was ordered by Congress after the September terrorist attacks.

The Transportation Security Administration, created by the new law, will have coordinators oversee protection of passengers at some 430 commercial airports across the country. The transition will be gradual; airlines have until Nov. 19 to finish it.

``Many of the changes are management changes, behind-the-scenes changes,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday.

He said the changes will result in baggage screeners and security screeners at the airports ``who are better paid, better trained and, therefore, more stable in terms of the turnover, and that will enhance security for all travelers.''

John Magaw, newly installed undersecretary for transportation security, said, ``In terms of security violations, malfeasance of duty, that will all be our responsibility.''

Last month, airlines substantially increased scrutiny of checked baggage for explosives. By Nov. 19, all security screeners are supposed to be federal employees. By the end of the year, all checked bags will have to be screened by explosive detection equipment.

Not enough equipment currently is in place for that, and the government has required that airlines make sure that all baggage is accompanied by a passenger.

Representatives of the airlines will remain in place at security points, but will report to the government rather than to airline executives. Most of the airport security companies will stay in place, although they, too, will report to the government.

``If everything runs OK, I don't think the public is going to notice much,'' said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, an advocacy group. ``There's a new sheriff in town but the public ought not to be seeing things.''

Airline officials said they don't expect any problems as they give up the security business.

``This will be a smooth transfer over the course of several months as the federal government assumes security screening functions,'' said Michael Wascom of the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the major airlines.

Eventually, relatively low-paid screeners will be replaced by a higher-paid, better-trained federal work force, but that switch won't happen overnight.

``Once they start putting new people in, that will probably be the dramatic change,'' former Federal Aviation Administration security chief Billie Vincent said. ``I don't expect any major impact until then.''

Having the government as both a regulator and an operator will strengthen efforts to protect passengers, said Paul Hudson, director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, a group affiliated with Ralph Nader.

``The government, in effect, is going to be in charge and the companies will be working for the government,'' Hudson said. ``The idea was we're going to have government security, like we have with the Secret Service. You would expect it would go to a higher level of security with direct operations by the government.''