user: TSA to speed flight attendants through security

By Mike M. Ahlers, CNN

updated 8:36 PM EDT, Mon July 23, 2012

Flight attendants will soon get the same expedited screening at airport checkpoints available to airline pilots.

Washington (CNN) -- Flight attendants in coming months will get the same expedited screening at airport checkpoints available to airline pilots, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday.

In a move intended to reduce checkpoint congestion while improving security, flight attendants will be allowed to display credentials instead of undergoing physical screening. They will still be subject to random, unpredictable searches, however.

TSA Administrator John Pistole said the change is in keeping with his philosophy of "risk-based" security, because it speeds up screening of known "low-risk" travelers, while allowing TSA screeners to focus on unknown travelers.

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Flight attendant representatives have long argued that flight attendants deserve the same treatment as pilots because they undergo identical background checks and are entrusted with access to the cockpit.

The Known Crewmember program is "good news" for U.S. aviation, flight attendants and the traveling public, said Veda Shook, head of the Association of Flight Attendants.

"We are the last line of defense in security aboard the aircraft," Shook said.

In addition, the program will eliminate flight attendants' "uncomfortable" practice of jumping to the head of the security line so they can make their flights on time, she said.

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In May, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security instructed the TSA to include flight attendants in the Known Crewmember program.

Flight attendants -- there are 90,000 of them in the United States -- will be eligible if they work for U.S. airlines that participate in the program and are flying from U.S. airports. When flight attendants present their credentials to the TSA officers, the identifications will be checked against an up-to-date database of program participants.

The TSA has been phasing in the program for pilots. To date, nearly 1.4 million pilots have been screened at checkpoints under the new system.

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The TSA expects it could take up to 12 months for airlines and their service providers to make the necessary system modifications and fully implement this change. Flight attendants could begin to experience expedited screening as early as this fall, and by year's end it could be implemented at more than 30 airports.

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Summary: Flight attendants in coming months will get the same expedited screening at airport checkpoints available to airline pilots, the TSA says.


U.S. Congressmen Raise Concerns About Security at Sochi Olympics

WASHINGTON — In one of the sharpest expressions yet of American worries about possible terrorist threats to the Sochi Olympics, a key lawmaker in Congress said on Sunday that he was “very concerned” about security preparations there.

But in a separate interview on Sunday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said that the nation would “do whatever it takes” to protect the thousands of visitors arriving soon for the Winter Games. And Mr. Putin reiterated that Russia would welcome athletes and visitors of any sexual orientation, despite laws in his country that are hostile to gay men and lesbians.

The congressman, Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that American officials working with Russians ahead of the Games had “found a departure of cooperation that is very concerning.”

In particular, Mr. Rogers said on the CNN program “State of the Union,” “they’re not giving us the full story about, what are the threat streams, who do we need to worry about, are those groups — the terrorist groups who have had some success — are they still plotting?”

Two suicide bombings in the central Russian city of Volgograd late last year claimed at least 34 lives, raising fears about the security of the Olympics in Sochi, which is about 400 miles to the southwest. Extremists affiliated with the militant leader Doku Umarov have vowed to disrupt the Olympics.

With an estimated 15,000 Americans planning to travel to Sochi for the Games, which begin Feb. 6, Mr. Rogers said his concerns would remain until Russian security services provided their “full cooperation.”

Another key member of Congress, Representative Michael T. McCaul, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, also expressed concerns about Sochi preparations, though he said he believed that “President Putin is taking this very seriously” and “taking all the precautions.”

But given the recent deadly attacks by regional terrorist groups and the threats of more to come, Mr. McCaul said he believed that attacks somewhere in Russia during the Olympics were “likely.”

With the Russians promising to surround Sochi with a “ring of steel,” Mr. McCaul said on the ABC program “This Week,” “I think it’s more likely that the attacks would probably happen outside the perimeter, more soft targets, transportation modes, if you will.”

The congressman said he would travel to Sochi on Monday to confer with security officials, in part to study their plans for evacuations in the event of any attack.

Mr. Putin, in his taped interview, again sought to reassure foreign visitors that travel to Russia would be safe. “We will do whatever it takes” to ensure security, he told George Stephanopoulos of ABC, who was broadcasting from Sochi.

The Russian president said that a full panoply of security measures was being brought to bear not just in Sochi, but also elsewhere in Russia, adding, “If necessary, all those tools will be activated.”

Mr. Putin said that if foreign athletes wanted to provide their own additional security, “there is nothing wrong with that,” so long as they coordinated with the Russian authorities.

Several officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be in Sochi to attend to the security of the American team.

Amid complaints from foreign athletes and officials about Russia’s nationwide ban last year on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations,” which makes it a crime to mention homosexuality around minors, Mr. Putin insisted that visitors had nothing to fear.

“In this country, everybody is absolutely equal to anybody else, irrespective of one’s religion, sex, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” he said. “Everybody is equal. So no concerns exist for people who intend to come as athletes or visitors to the Olympics.”

He had no comment about President Obama’s decision not to attend the Sochi Games. Relations between the United States and Russia have been strained over many issues, including Russia’s granting temporary asylum to Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who is wanted by the American government for revealing state secrets; as well as over the antigay law.

“Russia does not criminally prosecute people for being gay, unlike in over one-third of the world’s nations,” Mr. Putin said. “Seventy of the world’s nations consider homosexual behavior a crime.”

Summary:

assistant: With about 15,000 Americans planning to travel to Sochi, Russia, for the Games, Representatives Mike Rogers and Michael T. McCaul expressed concerns about possible terrorist threats.