US embassy cable - 04FRANKFURT8521

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 FRANKFURT 008521 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TRA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2014 
TAGS: ASEC, EAIR, PTER, SNAR, GM 
SUBJECT: FRANKFURT AIRPORT MANAGEMENT DISPUTES MEDIA 
REPORTS OF SECURITY LAPSES 
 
REF: FROATS-SILER-TULENKO E-MAIL/MEDIA TRANSCRIPT 
 
     (MAY 27) 
 
Classified By: Consul General Peter W. Bodde, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
 SUMMARY 
 -------- 
 
1.  (C) Over the past few months, German media outlets, on a 
number of occasions, have reported negatively on Frankfurt 
Airport (Fraport) customs enforcement and its control of 
restricted areas.  In a meeting with consulate 
representatives, senior Fraport officials said the airport is 
100-percent secure and blamed the reports on labor disputes. 
TSA and DHS-ICE representatives believe that Fraport provides 
 
SIPDIS 
fully adequate security.  In reaction to the media attention, 
Fraport plans to introduce stricter controls on its (over 
40,000) identification badges.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) Pol/Econ officer met with Fraport board member and 
head of External Relations Volker Zintel and Peter Dienstbach 
(Senior Vice President for Traffic and Terminal Management). 
Both German interlocutors spoke at length about alleged 
security lapses, and Dienstbach indicated he had engaged TSA 
representatives in similar discussions. 
 
CUSTOMS CONTROLS: POOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OR LABOR DISPUTE? 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
3.  (SBU) In March, German media -- including "Frankfurter 
Rundschau" (a left-leaning national daily based in 
Frankfurt), "Spiegel" (the leading national news weekly 
magazine) and ARD/ZDF (the two largest TV networks) began 
reporting on Customs controls at Frankfurt Airport.  In those 
reports, anonymous customs employees produced internal 
documents that purportedly showed customs inspection points 
going unmanned for days (even during arrivals from high-risk 
regions), claiming that customs management put revenue 
collection (duties on cigarettes, alcohol, etc.) and 
passenger convenience above intercepting traffickers and 
potential terrorists, under the motto "customs officials are 
not the police".  (NOTE: The German Federal Border Police -- 
or Bundesgrenzschutz -- which operates under the purview of 
the MOI, has primary responsibility for border control, 
including at Germany's airports.  END NOTE) 
 
4.  (C) Fraport interlocutors indicated they understood the 
media campaign to be the result of an internal labor dispute 
involving competing unions, namely the German Customs and 
Finance Union (Deutsche Zoll und Finanzgewerkschaft, which 
has traditionally represented airport customs personnel) and 
the Police Union GdP (Gewerkschaft der Polizei), which wants 
to take over this representation.  Zintel (who asked not to 
be quoted) implied that leaks to the media and complaints of 
understaffing and bad management were part of the Police 
Union's aggressive campaign to gain entry to Customs' works 
council (labor representation) at the airport. 
 
5.  (C) Airport management did note that German Customs 
(Zollkriminalamt -- ZKA) at the airport still operates "as 
they did 40 years ago", while police at the airport have 
modernized considerably.  Zintel indicated that Airport 
Customs head Hartmut Nessler -- a polarizing figure in 
labor-management disputes at airport Customs -- will depart 
soon, making way for a new start in the organization. 
 
ALLEGED SECURITY LAPSES 
----------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) In the most recent media expose (ref A), ZDF TV 
newsmagazine "Frontal 21" documented (via hidden cameras) 
alleged lapses in access controls at Fraport.  The video 
(provided to TSA) shows hidden-camera footage of reporters in 
off-the-shelf uniforms gaining access (on four consecutive 
days) to cargo storage, a hangar, and other airfield 
locations by following vehicles through gates and walking 
through unlocked doors. 
 
7.  (C) Our Fraport interlocutors took issue with the media 
expose, arguing that reporters falsely claimed to have 
penetrated secure airside operations (Fraport says that all 
areas shown were company-internal workspaces).  Fraport 
coordinates security but its carriers and other customers are 
responsible for areas under their authority.  In one case, 
Zintel claimed, someone had apparently lodged open a door the 
night before the hidden camera arrived, suggesting a set-up. 
Zintel characterized the key witness ZDF used in its report, 
an attorney, as someone with a vested interest in claiming 
that anyone can go anywhere at the airport.  (NOTE: The 
attorney in question represents 20 former Fraport employees 
convicted in 2003 of participation in a cargo theft ring. 
END NOTE.)  Dienstbach said that Fraport management had asked 
ZDF to amend its report to reflect the above information but 
had been unsuccessful.  (NOTE: "Frontal 21" has aired a 
series of exposes on airport security, including a report 
earlier this year on unmanned immigration checkpoints at 
Munich Airport that prompted the departure of that airport's 
head of Border Police.  END NOTE) 
 
8.  (C) Fraport representatives insisted that their security 
is sound and that the airport complies fully with all 
regulations but recognize "areas for further improvement." 
Management reviewed its security procedures following the 
media reports and found no gaps but established an informal 
agenda for improvement, including oversight of the 
approximately 40,000 security passes issued so far -- many to 
outside contractors and non-airport employees.  (NOTE: The 
May 2004 expose highlighted a former employee who had 
retained a valid Fraport access card a month after his 
departure because of his former company's failure to cancel 
it in a timely fashion.  END NOTE.)  In June, Fraport brought 
in its subsidiary ICTS Europe (International Consultants on 
Targeted Security, one of Europe's leading security 
providers) to replace a passenger screening contractor that 
had previously serviced much of the airport. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
9.  (C) TSA Frankfurt believes that Frankfurt Airport 
security is adequate, but has incorporated media reports into 
its ongoing inspections of airport facilities and carriers. 
While Federal Border Police are the lead agency for airport 
security, Frankfurt DHS-ICE notes that customs personnel at 
Frankfurt Airport -- as at many European airports -- often 
focus on revenue collection more than criminal threats, 
including terrorism.  Although Customs thinking and focus 
have evolved in light of a changing security environment, the 
operational transformation is still underway.  END COMMENT. 
BODDE