By Ron Thaniel
May 12, 2003

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced April 30 that it is planning to reduce the number of uniformed federal airport screeners at some major airports and warned that passengers might encounter longer lines at security checkpoints.

Admiral James M. Loy, who heads the Transportation Security Administration, said 3,000 positions will be trimmed from the workforce by May 31 and 3,000 more by Sept. 30. 6,000 cuts equal roughly 11 percent of its 55,600'screener work force.

Admiral James M. Loy has said the cuts, which will save the agency roughly $280 million, won-t diminish security but may lead to slightly longer delays for travelers.

The cuts are needed because the agency hired more than the number of people authorized under federal law in order to meet deadlines for federalizing passenger screening and introducing baggage screening, according to the TSA.

"TSA is entering a new stage in its maturation," Loy said of the 17-month-old agency.

The cuts are also aimed at keeping staffing levels closer to what is needed at the nation's 429 commercial airports. About 250 airports are expected to end up with fewer screeners and 150 with more. To get around a congressionally mandated cap of 45,000 full-time screeners the TSA hired 9,000 "temporary" workers, most of whom were given five-year contracts.

A number of the nation's largest airports will lose hundreds of workers. Pittsburgh International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport, for example, will each lose about 40 percent of their screeners.

More than 300 federal security screener jobs at Chicago airports will be eliminated including 132 screeners, or 25 percent at Midway, leaving it with 389. At O-Hare International Airport, screener personnel will be cut by 170, to 2,034, a reduction of nearly 8 percent.

McCarran in Las Vegas, the nation's seventh-busiest airport, stands to lose about 16 percent of its federal screeners under the plan. The TSA wants to eliminate 149 screeners out of about 914 positions.

Denver International Airport will cut 172 of its 1,018 screeners while Colorado Springs Municipal Airport will lose up to 61 of its 153 screeners under the plans.

Newark Liberty International Airport, where one of the hijacked Sept. 11 jets took off, will lose 21 percent of its security checkpoint screeners. The agency is eliminating 273 of Newark's 1,305 screeners, leaving 1,032 in place.

New York's airports will see a 22 percent reduction at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia with a 4 percent reduction.

103 screeners will be eliminated at Washington's Reagan National Airport.

U.S. airports had 19,000 screeners at the time of the terrorist attacks, compared with the 55,600 on staff as of March 31.