National Guard to protect
Purdue airport
By Richard Payne
Staff
Writer
Gov. Frank O’Bannon agreed to activate members
of the Indiana National Guard on Thursday to protect the state’s
commercial airports following a request from President Bush.
Fifty-five National Guard troops will be placed
at 12 checkpoints in six airports, including Purdue’s airport.
Betty Stansbury, director of the Purdue airport,
said, "Anything we can do to enhance the safety and the security
of this airport is welcome."
Purdue airport is one of six commercial airports
in the state that will be provided with increased security.
The other five airports included are those of Indianapolis,
Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville and Gary.
The governor’s decision to implement National
Guard troops was influenced by President Bush’s request to call
up roughly 4,000 members of the National Guard to increase security
at 720 checkpoints across the nation’s 420 commercial airports.
"The governor has been supportive of President
Bush’s efforts to provide some greater level of assurance to people
that their air travel is safe," said Andrew Stoner, deputy press
secretary for the governor. "If the Indiana National Guard can
help, they will certainly do that."
National Guard members will be chosen based on
their level of skill and will have to go through two or three days of
training. Military police are expected to be prime candidates for training,
said Stoner.
Training will include legal considerations, screening
techniques and equipment, courteous and efficient screening, safe handling
of deadly or dangerous items, incident management and conflict resolution.
Uniformed and armed troops could arrive at the
six Indiana airports within one week, said Stoner.
The calling of the National Guard is associated
with hearings held during the last two weeks by the congressional committee
on transportation and infrastructure.
Rep. Brian Kerns, R-7th, is the only Indiana congressman
on the committee and has been involved with the committee’s recent
hearings.
One of the things the committee had to look at
was the cost in taking over airport security nationwide, said Steve
Lutes, media representative for Kerns. The cost of government security
could be supplemented by adding an extra surcharge on each airline ticket.
Another concern of the committee is the background
of employees hired to work airport security.
"At Dulles, here in Washington, D.C., over
80 percent of people who work there are foreign nationals," said
Lutes.
High turnovers in airport security staff are also
a part of debate on airport employment.
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