Federal Screeners Start Working At RDU International

RDU International

.

About 60 security screeners were at Terminal A at RDU International Tuesday to check passengers. Half of the screeners trained at other airports and are now training new screeners at the airport.

The new federal screeners have access to upgraded equipment and will be more thorough with their searches.

Ronald Juhl, the new federal security director for RDU International and Fayetteville Regional, said the new screeners have better training and will be more professional, but they will be watched.

"Certainly, we will have continuous oversight of it. We will take any complaints, we will investigate them thoroughly, and we will deal with them appropriately," Juhl said.

Fayetteville Regional Airport is also opening a federal security checkpoint on Tuesday. Thirty-thousand more screeners must be hired and trained to meet the Nov. 19 deadline for federalizing security at the nation's 429 airports.

The agency has hired more than 13,000 screeners and needs $52,000 more to screen passengers and baggage across the country. Pay ranges from more than $23,000 to $35,000.

Juhl did not say when additional checkpoints at RDU International would be open. However, he did say that they plan to meet the Nov. 19 deadline.

Airport officials are still discussing where to put the large explosive detection devices, but officials said that they should be installed by Dec. 31. Several airports as well as members of Congress have asked the Transportation Security Administration to push that deadline to early next year to work around the problems associated with holiday travel.