Logan tightens employee ID system

The Massachusetts Port Authority is revamping the way it credentials employees and contractors with access to secured areas at Logan International Airport, in the wake of last week's arrest of 14 undocumented workers there.

Massport said it is immediately ending the practice of allowing outside contractors to issue airport identification badges to their workers, and instead will issue all the badges itself. All the workers arrested in last week's raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were Brazilian nationals working for Hurley of America, a janitorial subcontractor that issued their credentials.

Massport also said it is revoking the hundreds of temporary credentials carried by employees of such contractors as of April 5 and replacing them with a simpler identification system that will give the agency tighter control over access to secure areas.

The changes come after a Massport security audit that focused on how airport workers and visitors obtained temporary identification badges, which give them limited access to parts of the airport beyond security checkpoints.

''It's important for everybody to understand that security is not something that is perfect in any way, shape or form, but we have strived to set the standard," said Craig Coy, the agency's chief executive.

Many of the changes, he said, were already planned, but last week's incident prompted officials to expedite them.

Airport security has been a national hot-button issue since the terrorist attacks of 2001, but perhaps nowhere as much as at Logan, where hijackers boarded two of the four planes that crashed. Since then, Massport has earned a reputation for testing and deploying the latest airport security technologies, many times in advance of federal mandates.

There are currently three kinds of temporary passes: one for temporary workers, one for new workers awaiting full security clearance, and one for daily visitors conducting official business. Those with temporary badges still need an escort with a permanent pass to work in or visit secure areas, although Massport said last week that Hurley was lax in enforcing that requirement.

Calls to Hurley were not returned yesterday, but company officials last week said they followed proper procedures with their Logan workers.

Massport will now issue only one type of temporary badge and conduct its own background checks with the help of law enforcement agencies. Massport officials also plan to issue more permanent passes to some employees who work full time at the airport but have still been using the temporary cards, said agency spokeswoman Danny Levy.

Logan has more than 100 contractors, from cleaning firms to consultants to builders, whose workers use such passes regularly but aren't full-time airport employees. Until now, those companies were responsible for conducting background checks on workers and issuing them credentials.

Massport officials said they have not yet calculated the cost of the changes, but said they should be minimal and will come from an existing security budget. Massport's board recently approved $150 million for security improvements including expansion of a biometric identification system that would use workers' fingerprints to verify their identities, along with digital ID cards and badges.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.