The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun doing checks of passenger identification and boarding passes at select security checkpoints at JFK Airport.  Airline contract employees previously conducted document checking.

TSA's FY 2008 budget included a request for $60 million to fund 1,329 new, specially trained TSA screening officer positions to examine boarding documents, a story that appeared in the Feb. 16 issue (subscribers only) of Aviation Daily.  Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport began using screeners to check IDs back in April, as I wrote about in the April 16 issue (subscribers only) of Aviation Daily.

The agency says that by taking over document checking, it adds another layer of defense for aviation security beyond the existing checkpoint. TSA security officers are already checking documents at more than 200 smaller airports, along with Phoenix Sky Harbor.

“Now trained security officers will have the capability to detect individuals who attempt to board an aircraft with suspect documents,” said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley in a statement. “Fraudulent IDs and boarding documents can subvert the security process and this effort sends someone with a fake ID to law enforcement and not the boarding gate.”

TSA officers have also been trained in interview techniques and methods to identify suspicious behavior.  Funding for the new positions will come from efficiencies gained through lower attrition and fewer injuries.  Combined with existing resources, 2,000 travel document checkers will be deployed, based on risk, to airports across the country in FY 2008.