U.S. orders new criminal checks for airport workers

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Monday ordered all airport workers with access to planes and secure areas to submit to new criminal background checks. Crop-dusting planes were grounded for a second day over fears they could be used in an attack.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said 352 people have now been arrested or detained in the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington and another 392 people were being sought for questioning.

Ashcroft said he believed those being held or sought have information about the attacks.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airports and airlines to redo criminal checks and scrutinize employment histories for baggage handlers, food service workers and other employees who have access to airliners, ramps, tarmacs and other secure areas. The Coast Guard, meanwhile, began checking the identities of passengers on inbound ships.

"We are requiring revalidation of all airport IDs to make sure that they are genuine, current and belong with the person they are with," FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said.

Investigators are looking at whether box-cutting tools found on two jets may have been planted there by individuals other than passengers who had access to airliners. The hijackers used box-cutters in the hijackings two weeks ago.

The grounding of the nation's crop-dusters, which began Sunday, was extended through Monday. It was the second time that agricultural pilots have been told not to fly since the attacks.

Ashcroft told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI had gathered information raising fears the small farm planes could be used in a biological or chemical attack. "There is no clear indication of the time or place of these attacks," he said.

Ashcroft said one of the suspected hijackers, Mohamad Atta, had shown interest in crop-dusters and that another person now in federal custody had downloaded information about the planes.

J.D. "Will" Lee, 62, general manager of South Florida Crop Care in Belle Glade, said Monday that groups of two or three Middle Eastern men came by almost every weekend for six or eight weeks before the terrorist attacks, including the weekend just before the assaults.

Lee said a co-worker, James Lester, positively identified one of the hijacking suspects, Mohamed Atta. Atta is believed to be one of the suicide hijackers in the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Virginia.

In yet another precaution, the Coast Guard said it is requiring that incoming vessels supply local port officials with the identities of crew members and passengers.

"We're working on an interagency basis with the FBI, immigration officials, the U.S. Customs Service and other law enforcement agencies in checking the names we get against their databases in order to ensure national security," said a Coast Guard spokesman, Capt. Mike Lapinski. "We want to identify individuals and cargos that should not get into the United States."

"It's still in effect," Laura Brown, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said of the grounding. "It's extended until just after midnight tonight," local time.

Asked about the new grounding, the FBI said it was one of the steps the bureau has taken out of an abundance of caution and "in reaction to every bit of information and threats received during the course of this investigation."

James Callan, executive director of the National Agricultural Aviation Association, said he got a call from a Federal Aviation Administration official about 8 a.m. Sunday.

"They said it was a national security issue," said Callan. "I made some calls and the indication was that there still is no specific threat, but the FBI apparently ordered this and they just want to make sure that everyone in the ag aviation industry is keeping their eyes and ears open."

FAA spokesman Scott Brenner said, "The intelligence community came to us and encouraged us to shut down the crop-dusters."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld outlined the potential threat Sunday on CBS' "Face The Nation," saying that countries sponsoring terrorism have "very active chemical and biological warfare programs."

"We know that they are in close contact with terrorist networks around the world," he said.

Crop-dusters also were grounded Sept. 16 and for the past week have been barred from flying over metropolitan areas, with some exceptions. The crop-dusters were grounded along with all other civilian aircraft after the attacks, with flights resuming Sept. 14.

Callan said there are probably about 3,500 agricultural aviators and that this is a crucial time of the year for aerial spraying of crops.

The FBI spent an hour Saturday questioning Khalid al Draibi, who was arrested 13 miles south of Dulles Airport the night after the attacks. A man with the same birthdate and a similar name appears on an FBI list of 21 alleged suspects in the attacks.

Attorney Drewry B. Hutcheson Jr. said his client spoke voluntarily without immunity to an agent and "I hope at this point that based on our interview that the FBI's suspicions have subsided." Hutcheson said his client, a Saudi citizen, denies knowing anything about the attacks or anyone involved. Hutcheson said Draibi, who has worked in Alabama, was in the Washington area because he wanted to go to the Saudi Embassy, "probably for financial help."

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National Agricultural Aviation Association: http://www.agaviation.org/