To the Editor:

On March 4, 2011, I flew from St. Petersburg, Fla., to Plattsburgh, N.Y., on Allegiant Airlines. As I exited the security area I was surprised to see that there was no agent sitting there enforcing the “No Re-entry” rule that was posted and enforced at every other major airport that I have been in.

I stood and watched at least one person walk from the waiting area back through the doors without anyone questioning him. He was not an airline employee. There was a TSA agent present, but he was talking with a food vendor and not in view of the “No Re-entry” area.

When I got back home to Canton I went to the TSA website and filed an urgent complaint that security had been breached. The next morning (8 hours after my email) I received a phone call from Kimberly Lawrence who identified herself as the TSA Supervisor for Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake airports.

Ms. Lawrence was nonchalant and stated that no breach of security had occurred. She said that people are allowed into the secure area once all the flights have departed for the day. I said you mean that people can come in and theoretically hide razor blades, knives, guns and other prohibited items behind pictures, under chairs, in the vending areas, in the paper towel dispensers, in the potted plants and in the disposable toilet seat cover dispensers every day and that this area had to be meticulously examined every morning for contraband? She said yes. She said her agents “sweep” it every morning.

I told her that was not very good measure as agents could become complacent or not feel well and not do a thorough job inspecting every nook and cranny every single day. In referring to her agents, she said “I trust them to do their job” and she gives the agents “the benefit of the doubt”. I made her repeat herself. I said any time humans are involved corners can get cut and that this was a mistake. We have seen repeatedly how TSA inspectors have missed guns and knives in suitcases that have been planted by the government to see how alert the agents are when x-raying luggage. The TSA has failed miserably.

I told her that you don’t see people go into the secure area in Syracuse or New York or Orlando or Washington, DC at any time unless they’ve been screened. How can Plattsburgh do such a sloppy job and potentially allow contraband to make it onto planes and then into other airports!

She did not think that anything wrong had occurred. I told her to try to re-enter some other airport; it would not be allowed and she knew it.

I documented my conversation with Ms. Lawrence and contacted Senator Susan Collins of Maine to report this incident as she is on the Homeland Security Subcommittee. I received an email from Senator Collins’ office stating that someone would be in touch…a month has passed and I am still waiting.

I am hoping that this letter makes its way to someone who can make a difference. After all is said and done, the airport is not secure and I suspect if someone went in and tried to hide some contraband they would be successful. I say that the TSA is not doing their job in Plattsburgh and should be investigated. Why wait for a disaster to occur? If this is happening at small airports like Plattsburgh, is it also happening in Massena, Ogdensburg and Watertown as well? I personally have not seen it, but who is going to find out the answers for the traveling public?

Tony Beane, DVM

Canton