HEBRON — Beginning today, those checking for weapons and other potential threats at passenger checkpoints at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will be federal workers.

        Cincinnati becomes the 38th airport in the nation to undergo the process, overseen by the Transportation Security Administration, the agency created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks to oversee aviation security.

        “This should be seamless for passengers,” said Terry Burgess, the TSA's federal security director for the airport, who will oversee the implementation. “It will be a more professional force; it will have more training; and it will have better training. And because we're not the first airport to go and have been able to prepare, we don't anticipate any major stumbling blocks.”

        The law that created the TSA last November also required that all passenger screeners be federal employees by Nov. 19. The TSA has hired about 17,000 screeners nationally out of the nearly 54,000 workers it will need to man passenger checkpoints and electronic bomb scanning machines at the nation's 429 airports.

        The law requires the screeners to be American citizens and high school graduates. They also must be able to read and write English, along with other requirements. Those with previous experience are given special dispensation on some of the requirements.

        The TSA has hired a total of 303 workers locally, with 175 to begin work today and the rest to begin orientation Monday.

        They replace workers from Huntleigh USA, a St. Louis-based firm under contract with the government.

        Locally, the TSA plans to hire about 320 passenger screeners, but how many baggage screeners has yet to be determined. Bag scanning machines need to be in place by Dec. 31.

        Mr. Burgess said that about 100 Huntleigh screeners would be laid off today, but at least 75 were reapplying for federal jobs. If those workers meet the requirements under the new law and pass the assessment tests, they are guaranteed a job, unlike those with no previous security experience.

        Officials with Huntleigh, which had employed about 320 workers locally, did not return calls seeking comment.

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