Word: denver
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...china-shop approach. "They may be fine folks at the TSA," says Baumgartner, "but they don't know anything about building an airport-security system or running an airport." William Pickle, a former Secret Service official who has just taken over as the TSA's top man in Denver, acknowledges the tensions. "The TSA is trying to be both a law-enforcement agency and a regulatory agency, and virtually everyone at TSA is new to aviation," he says. "It is an enormous task...
...want to assess the state of airport security in America, Denver is a good place to start, for it is in many respects a role model. It is the newest big-city airport in the U.S. (it opened in February 1995) and by many measures the best run. Though it is the fifth busiest airport in the U.S., it has had the lowest rate of delays for four straight years. This is due partly to its five nonintersecting runways (a sixth is under construction) and equipment that makes Denver the only airport that can allow three simultaneous landings if needed...
...this exurban behemoth (larger than the city of Denver itself, it covers 53 sq. mi.), with its tentlike spires and cavernous, convention-hall interior, has its user-unfriendly quirks. Passengers who are dropped off at the airport by cab or rental-car van find themselves, for some odd reason, at the exit. To reach the ticket counter, they have to lug their bags up an escalator. The three gate concourses are connected by a train system that is fast and convenient-except when it's not working (which lately has not been very often and usually for only short periods...
...Still, Denver is a more inviting place than most American airports to spend an hour or 12. After you have passed the ticket counters (centralized, helpfully, in two expansive rows on either side of the main terminal) and the two maps of America decorated with photos of oddball tourist attractions (such as the world's largest office chair, in Anniston, Ala.), you can stroll across a giant land bridge overlooking the snaking security lines. One Denver innovation has helped these lines move more quickly: express lines for passengers with only one carry-on item (a purse or small suitcase...
...incidents-big weather problems as well as security breaches-the action shifts to the room next door, where a swat team of airport personnel are summoned around a circular conference table whose centerpiece pops up at the push of a button to give each participant a phone and computer. Denver's layout makes dealing with a security breach easier than at many airports: the train system is instantly shut down, isolating any passenger who has slipped by security (usually inadvertently) in one concourse rather than requiring the evacuation of the whole airport...