In order to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information on Airport security, DFW provides the following answers to your most frequently asked questions.

How has security changed at DFW as of January?

What is DFW's role in the new security measures?

What kinds of delays are passengers experiencing at DFW due to the new laws and procedures?

Who do I contact for specific questions regarding the new security measures implemented on January 18 or any additional security questions?

What is the most recent Prohibited Items list?

What happens to those items confiscated by the screeners?

Whom should I contact if I left something at a DFW security checkpoint?

Who's in charge of security checkpoints at DFW Airport and other airports around the country?

Who do I contact to get a job as a federal security screener?

Who has jurisdiction over the CTX 9000 baggage scanners at the Airport?

What is the TSA's role at checkpoints and in Airport security?

Under what circumstances would DFW Airport law enforcement get involved at a security checkpoint?

Are there other specific areas of security for which DFW Airport is responsible?

What additional security measures has DFW implemented?

If there is an incident on an air carrier in flight, who would I contact?

If an incident occurs on a plane on the ground, who would I contact?

What is DFW Airport's relationship with the National Guard?

When a terminal is evacuated, who makes the call?

How has security changed at DFW as of January?
According to the law passed by Congress, the airlines will use one or more of the following options to further inspect checked bags:

• machine screening
• bomb sniffing dogs
  
• manual search
  
• matching the bag with the passenger before it is placed on the aircraft (handled by the airlines)

Please keep in mind that this is a layered approach and that DFW continues to work with industry counterparts, the federal government and the airlines to strengthen and enhance security at the Airport.

What is DFW's role in the new security measures?
DFW is working closely with its airlines and the federal government to make the necessary facility accommodations for new equipment during the next several months. The Airport has its own police, fire and emergency medical services, which provide services to the DFW Airport community, that will be involved as always with the federal security personnel.

What kinds of delays are passengers experiencing at DFW due to the new laws and procedures?
Please contact your airline for this information. This is a new program and, as with all new procedures, there may be some time needed to adjust. However, DFW prides itself on some of the shortest security checkpoint lines in the country, averaging less than 10 minutes for most passengers, most cases. And if a bottleneck does occur, our terminal coordinators and Airport Ambassadors direct passengers to alternative checkpoints nearby.

Who do I contact for specific questions regarding the new security measures implemented on January 18 or any additional security questions?
Please contact the following:

• Air Transport Association at 202 626 4172 or www.airlines.org
• U.S. Department of Transportation at 202 366 4570 or www.dot.gov
• Individual airline corporate offices
  

What is the most recent Prohibited Items list?
For the latest information, please see our complete Prohibited Items List. Please visit the Transportation Security Administration’s official web site at www.tsa.gov for additional security updates.

What happens to those items confiscated by the screeners?
Items confiscated from passengers at security checkpoints are controlled by the airlines and the sub-contracting security company. However, DFW Airport has purchased one-way containers for each checkpoint. Confiscated items can be dropped into the container, but cannot be retrieved. Once a container is full, DFW Airport DPS officers collect and dispose of the items each day.

Whom should I contact if I left something at a DFW security checkpoint?
Please call 972 574 0172 for left-behind and/or lost items at security checkpoints.

Who's in charge of security checkpoints at DFW Airport and other airports around the country?
The new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for implementing government security mandates and hiring the security personnel who operate the checkpoints. More information on the TSA, including employment opportunities, is available at www.tsa.gov.


Who do I contact to get a job as a federal security screener?
Contact the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Go to the TSA's web site at http://www.tsa.gov for employment opportunities or call TSA at 877 631 5627.

Who has jurisdiction over the CTX 9000 baggage scanners at the Airport?
The TSA has jurisdiction. The Airport gets involved when there is a call to check a bag for explosives. Regulatory compliance (or whether a machine is functioning properly) is maintained between the TSA and the airline, which coordinate that area of responsibility for security.

What is the TSA's role at checkpoints and in Airport security?
The TSA is fully in charge: it regulates and tests the checkpoints and security checkpoint personnel.

Under what circumstances would DFW Airport law enforcement get involved at a security checkpoint?
DFW Airport law enforcement would respond to any violation of state law involving the use of dangerous weapons, as well as any other type of disturbance. DFW police monitor every checkpoint with surveillance cameras and maintain, by federal law, a five-minute maximum response time. Average response time of DFW Airport law enforcement is three minutes or less.

Are there other specific areas of security for which DFW Airport is responsible?
DFW Airport monitors perimeter access gates and, much like other local law enforcement agencies, is charged with the enforcement of all state laws on DFW property.

What additional security measures has DFW implemented?
Security measures in effect at DFW Airport above and beyond FAA mandates include:

• Closing more than 150 security doors available to terminal and airline employees. Several of those doors have since re-opened, but employees encounter armed officers and must pass security screening before entering secure areas.
  
  
• Closing the terminal/airline employee-only train.
  
  
• Moving electronic badge-scanning equipment to the 20 security checkpoints in all four terminals to assure all badged employees have valid credentials.
  
  
• Stationing law enforcement officers at all roadway entrances to aircraft parking and service areas. The Airport DPS is in the process of hiring 72 civilian guards, which will replace the LEOs at each of these access gates. These security guards will report to the DPS Manager of Security Services.
  
  
• Patrolling all terminal parking areas and inspecting parked vehicles.
  
  
• Like all other U.S. airports, DFW Airport Police officers or local agency police officers will be stationed at each of DFW's 20 passenger-screening checkpoints when the National Guard deployment ends on May 31, 2002.
  
  
• DFW Airport is currently conducting an evaluation of a biometric facial recognition system, which is integrated with an existing CCTV surveillance system.

The Airport has also completed the revalidation of all 36,500 security badges in use and completed criminal history checks on more than 4,000 airline and Airport personnel. Currently, the Airport is conducting retroactive criminal history background checks on all security badge holders.

If there is an incident on an air carrier in flight, who would I contact?
Contact the specific airline for information regarding that flight. The FBI has jurisdiction over carriers in flight. In cases where the FBI is involved, the public and media can contact the FBI.

If an incident occurs on a plane on the ground, who would I contact?
As long as the doors are closed, the plane is considered in flight. Therefore, all calls should be directed to the airline and, when appropriate, to the FBI.

What is DFW Airport's relationship with the National Guard?
The FAA is in administrative control of National Guard duties at the Airport. However, DFW Airport works in total cooperation and mutual support with the National Guard and is working in coordination of the Guard's efforts, as federally mandated, to oversee passenger-screening checkpoints. The Guard is expected to end their duties at DFW by June 1, when DFW will coordinate law enforcement personnel/ replacements until the TSA security force is in place.

When a terminal is evacuated, who makes the call?
In general, it's the TSA. Airport DPS and airline security personnel will also be involved. Airport DPS also has the authority to shutdown a terminal, working in tandem with TSA. News media are advised to confirm the circumstances of a terminal shutdown -- in most cases, it is a precautionary measure and part of the Airport's "zero tolerance" policy on security matters.