COLUMBUS, Ohio - Federal workers are to begin screening passengers and bags at all Port Columbus International Airport security checkpoints this week.

        The airport's federal security director, Thomas Rice, said Friday that 128 screeners were training all week.

        “Tuesday morning the checkpoints will be federalized,” Mr. Rice said. “They will have experience by the time they get here.”

        The new screeners at Port Columbus are separate from 225 screeners who work for Globe Security, a private company that contracts with the airlines.

        Mr. Rice said many of those workers have applied for federal jobs and may begin training next week.

        The 128 new workers will get help from a team of 70 screeners who train federal airport workers. Eventually, Port Columbus is to have 225 federal workers.

        Each new worker must have 40 hours of classroom training and 60 hours of on-the-job training.

        Federal screeners already are in place at airports including Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Louisville International Airport, said Greg Warren, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. Some gates at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport also have federal workers.

        The federal security agency was created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, partly to take over checkpoints from private security companies that faced heavy criticism after terrorists hijacked four airliners.

        Last month, tests at airports across the country found screeners only found about three-quarters of the fake weapons in carry-on bags.

        Screeners at Port Columbus missed weapons in three of 12 tests.

        By the end of this year, the security administration plans to hire at least 45,000 workers at 429 airports to screen baggage and work at checkpoints.

        It also plans to install 1,100 large explosive-detection systems and 4,700 smaller trace detectors to screen baggage.

        Some airport directors, including Elaine Roberts at Port Columbus, have suggested the agency slow down and establish more thorough security procedures.

        But the head of the administration, John Magaw, formerly of Columbus, was forced out of his job this month amid criticism that the agency wasn't moving quickly enough to protect air travelers.

        The administration began a survey of Port Columbus July 12 to determine where screening machines will be placed and how many and what kind the airport needs.

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