Federal officials Tuesday said they would be auditing airport-security firms at all the nation's airports, starting with the 20 busiest.

        That apparently means officials with Argenbright Security at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport would be avoiding a review of their records, at least for now. The airport is the nation's 24th busiest, according to recently released government rankings for 2000.

        But airport deputy operations director Chad Everett said a June audit of all companies receiving access to restricted areas showed no problems.

        Airport officials are required to conduct such audits annually. Mr. Everett said they pull employee records at random and verify that the information given was accurate. Any discrepancies are turned over to airport police detectives.

        “Anybody who gets badges (to secure areas) gets the audit,” Mr. Everett said.

        Employers at the airport are required to conduct a 10-year job history check on all potential employees. If there are no gaps for five years, then the potential employee can be hired.

        Airlines hire security firms, such as Atlanta-based Argenbright, to conduct passenger screening. Under contract with Delta Air Lines, Argenbright is the sole provider of such security at the Cincinnati airport.

        Argenbright is in charge of passenger screening at Newark International and Washington-Dulles airports. Sept. 11 flights from those airports were hijacked and later crashed in Pennsylvania and into the Pentagon, respectively.

        Last week, an inspection of company records showed major problems with Argenbright at 13 airports nationwide, including Columbus.

        Last October, the company pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration and was fined the maximum amount — $1 million — after an investigation into its Philadelphia operation.

        The company had already been fined $1.2 million by the FAA in April 2000 for saying it had checked the backgrounds of new hires when it hadn't. Some employees were later found to have been convicted of felonies.

        Company officials did not return phone calls Tuesday, but in a statement issued last week, Argenbright president Bill Barbour said the company was in the process of pulling out of Philadelphia at the time of last week's announcement.

        “While we dispute many of these items, we take these charges very seriously,” Mr. Barbour said.

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