Originally Posted by seat17D

I'm waiting for some reporter type to realize the two-tier structure that exists at most major airports:

1. Casual employees, such as bookstores, cleaning, suppliers, etc. who may work at the airport for a few days or a few weeks before disappearing into thin air. There are not enough hours in the day to do complete background checks on these employees and the cost of any thorough check would be more than they ever earn in wages. These are the employees with no verifiable addresses or even phone numbers. They may not have access to the most sensitive areas, but have abundant capacity to act as mules.

2. Long-term employees, who typically would easily pass a routine criminal background check regardless of their affiliations. These are the people who know the infrastructure inside and out and who have the most useful intelligence and casual access to sensitive areas.

The current security checking goes right in between the two groups missing both.