Security concerns at Bradley Airport

Windsor Locks (WTNH) - A Count on 8 Investigation looks at how security may be sacrificed for convenience at Bradley International Airport.

There have been extensive improvements in security at Bradley and other airports in the wake of 9/11. But some of the nation's top aviation security experts say we are becoming complacent. In fact, they say convenience and cost control rule over security.

After September 11th, tightened security didn't start in the terminal, it started in the parking lot. The National Guard patrolled the terminal and the lines to get through security were long, the process tedious.

Kathy Sweet is a Connecticut resident and author of Aviation and Airport Security: Terrorism and Safety Concerns and says things have changed.

"You walk into a airport and people are more interested in how fast can I get through this and how fast can I get that cargo on that aircraft, instead of how safely and securely can I get it done. I think we've moved away from that since 9/11," she said.

There are now even express lanes for expert travelers. But that's not what has Sweet concerned. A News Channel 8 photographer with an undercover camera captured airport employees who regularly swipe their ID cards and enter security codes to gain entry to secured areas of the terminal. But no one actually checks to see if the workers actually are who their IDs say they are.

"It's a huge problem and it's a cost saving measure," Sweet said. "TSA's position is they are subject to random searches so they are scared and they will never try to sneak anything onto the flight line and this is kind of a little bit crazy. Clearly you are going to get to the point that someone is willing to smuggle something onto the flight line."

In fact, our camera found workers carrying things into the secured area that were not subjected to screening.

"I think people need to understand the way TSA works is with layers of security," said Peter Boynton, head of the Transportation Security Administration in Connecticut. "All of those access events are recorded electronically and a fourth layer is they are filmed and recorded. We actually have a picture of who is coming and going."

Of course, that would only tell you who is coming and going after the fact.

Not only that, to save money many airports, including Bradley, do not have TSA screeners on duty 24/7. After hours, gates are used to block entry past security checkpoints for passengers. And private security guards, without the same training as TSA screeners, are left to watch travelers arriving on late night or early morning flights.

And it's not just what's happening inside the terminal that has security experts concerned. It's what may not be happening next door. While you're thoroughly screened, along with every tube of toothpaste in your carry-on bag, packages in the cargo hold right below your seat may not be.

"The latest research that I've read has said they are only up to screening about 50-percent so you know you have a situation where you've got people going through major security efforts to get on the plane and there's minimal security effort to put anything they want in the belly of the aircraft and that to me does not pass the common sense test," Sweet said.

TSA tells us it is screening cargo on single aisle airliners and it's working to comply with a congressional mandate to screen cargo on all airliners carrying passengers.

But that's not good enough for John Nance who is an aviation industry consultant for ABC News.

"The fact we have cargo in our holds that has not been completely screened and that we are trusting shippers is still a problem. This was excusable for a few years after 9/11 as we tried to get everything in order. I don't think it's excusable now it really has to be solved," he said.

News Channel 8 received the results of a Freedom of Information Request we made to the state for instances where people working at Bradley misused their security ID's.

We came of with two cases one from March were a United Airlines employee leaving on a personal trip was arrested for using her ID to enter a secure door to avoid the lines at the security check point the rest of us have to use.

And then there's this case from November, where another worker tried to enter the very same secure door we just showed you so he could also avoid the long lines.

A state trooper writing he and another trooper "observed the accused male walk by them in front of the Delta ticketing area at Bradley Airport with his family at the security check in. After a few minutes the same male walked by us going the opposite direction without his family by rolling a carry on piece of luggage. At this time we noticed this male with a Bradley airport security badge. We watched the accused as he walked to the far end of the A terminal next to Southwest check in and use his security badge enter the SIDA area of Bradley Airport."

The TSA tells us the fact these two individuals were caught shows their layers of security