Some of them have been found on Ebay, so we know there weren’t forgotten in a warehouse somewhere. CNN:
CBC television reported that one thousand uniforms and security badges were missing from federal airport screeners in 89 airports across the country during the first nine months of 2004.
Federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre ordered a probe by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and will receive a report on Monday. Lapierre said Jacques Duchesneau, president of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, will make public the results of the investigation.
The minister alerted Canada’s airport screeners to double-check airport employee identification in all 89 airports and said Canadians have nothing to worry about at this moment. After the attacks on September 11, Ottawa invested billions of dollars to improve airport security, although Americans often view Canada’s airport security as lax.
So does the Auditor General, though I don’t know why Canadian media is so utterly disinterested in her most recent report. I covered major portions of the findings here about 2 weeks ago.
Security clearances for airport workers
… the RCMP provides only information on whether a person has been charged or convicted of a criminal offence – information that does not identify for Transport Canada whether a person has associations with organized crime or is a refugee claimant. Based on the information it receives, Transport Canada determines whether a security clearance should be issued. …based on our analysis about 5.5�percent of clearance holders hired between January 2001 and May 2003 had criminal records. While this is still lower than the Canadian average, the upward trend over the last two years is of concern. Transport Canada officials told us that the clearance program focussed on a relatively narrow concept of “unlawful interference with civil aviation,” which concentrated on the risks of hijacking and sabotage. This concept has been derived from international conventions. The risks of drug smuggling and other criminal activity were not necessarily regarded as grounds for denial of a clearance. We reviewed the investigation files at the five airports we visited. Police and Customs had identified 247 individuals with clearances to restricted areas who were involved in criminal conspiracies … The RCMP’s assessment of clearance holders indicates a greater problem than is indicated in the criminal conspiracy investigation files at airports. At the two airports where police and Customs had no active investigations, clearance holders included individuals who may have significant criminal associations. In addition to identifying individuals with criminal associations, the RCMP identified 16 businesses operating at airports that were linked to criminal activity such as providing travel arrangements for organized crime, facilitating identity fraud, and selling stolen passes. During our audit, various officials told us that there were legal barriers to wider sharing of criminal intelligence information. For example, some mentioned that individuals had a Charter right to freedom of association that precluded denial of a security clearance.
Nice thought – a thousand security screener uniforms in the hands of the Hells Angels or associates of “refugee claimants”.