Atlanta Airport To Begin Daily Employee Security Screenings

There are about 45,000 employees working in the airport’s secure areas, said Miguel Southwell, the airport’s general manager. Soon, almost all of them will need to go through screenings to get there.

“The environment has changed, and we have to change with that environment,” Southwell said at a business conference in South Atlanta Thursday.

In December, an Atlanta baggage handler was arrested on gun-smuggling charges.

Southwell says the airport already does random screenings of employees, but said it’s not enough. 

“If you have someone who wants to commit a terrorist attack, I don’t believe random screening or a reasonable expectation is adequate,” Southwell said. 

Only two other airports in the country require full security screenings of their employees: Miami and Orlando. That’s because of past drug-smuggling busts involving airport workers.

In Atlanta, Southwell said the screening changes, which includes putting new facilities on the air fields for checks, could take up to year and half to fully implement.