Behind the Airport Shutdowns

By SALLY B. DONNELLY

Airports are grinding to a halt so frequently these days that even the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily lost track. Portions of Los Angeles International Airport, the world's third busiest, were closed or evacuated four times in eight days this month. In one incident, a "suspicious" item detected by a screening machine turned out to be a food processor. A terminal in Connecticut was sealed last week when a pair of scissors was discovered in a trash can.

Why the frenzy? The Transportation Security Administration, the agency that took over airport security from the FAA on Feb. 17, has added teeth to a Transportation Department zero-tolerance policy. That was the goal when Congress created the TSA last year. And now security staff members angling for the 30,000 jobs the TSA plans to fill in the coming months are working hard to appear conscientious. The TSA starts naming permanent security directors in a handful of airports as soon as next week.

But some fear that the new agency's tough policies could cripple a system that handles 670 million passengers a year. "The TSA has to allow security people to use their judgment," says David Plavin, who represents airport managers and owners. The system is no good, Plavin says, if it's "so rigid that people don't even want to negotiate it."

--By Sally B. Donnelly