TSA workers to get classified intelligence

As many at 10,000 Transportation Security Administration workers will have access to classified intelligence as a tool to keep terrorists off airplanes, a TSA official said Friday.

The TSA developed a plan that would give some of its workers access to secret intelligence in July 2008, said Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman.

"It's sort of a natural progression for professionally trained officers," Davis said.

A story about the TSA's plans appeared in USA Today Friday.

About 750 people have been trained to receive secret intelligence, Davis said, and it could take two years for all 10,000 to be trained.

Anything the TSA does to make the "rank and file better at their jobs" would be positive, said Alvy Dodson, a former TSA security director who now works in private industry.

"I always thought we needed to share as much information as we could with the people actually doing the job," Dodson said.

According to Dodson, who left the agency a year and a half ago, airport security workers received some intelligence briefing from managers.

"This seems to be taking the next step" in giving workers access to more detailed intelligence, Dodson said.

Many of the workers slated to get access to secret intelligence are uniformed TSA officers, including behavior detection officers, who are trained to identify and observe "high-risk" passengers based upon behavior. There are 3,000 such officers at 161 airports across the country, Davis said.

The workers given access to the intelligence will undergo background checks. The information is classified below "Top Secret," Davis said.

About 2.5 million people have security clearances in the United States, many with the military or defense contractors.

Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, a nonprofit passengers advocate group, praised the plan.

"It's about time," Hanni said.