JFKIAT security preparedness
T4 Holds 1st Crisis Response Fair
JFKIAT, Terminal 4, held
it’s JFK Terminal 4 Crisis
Response Fair for the T4 community.
This was the first
fair of its kind at T4 giving
an opportunity for local law
enforcement, emergency responders,
government agencies
and security partners to
come together and interact
with the T4 employees and
vendors. It was also a chance
for the men and women of
T4 the opportunity to interact
and get acquainted with
some of the members of the
people who keep them safe
every day. Terminal 4 is the
largest international terminal
at JFK and this event
gave the thousands of airline,
ground handling, concession,
and service providers
a chance to meet the people
who handle actual emergencies.
These terminal workers
also had the opportunity to
ask questions and see some
of the equipment used to provide
security and fight crime
at the terminal and around
the JFK Airport. According
to JFKIAT President Roel
Huinink,
“The success of T4’s 1st
annual Crisis Fair shows the
importance for JFKIAT, our
partners and law enforcement
stakeholders to have
a collaborative working relationship.
I would like to
thank all participants for
their steadfast commitment
to the Safety & Security at
JFK’s Terminal 4.”
Rose not smelling good
Congressman calls for USPS/CBP Opioid action
Following a tour of
the International Mail
Facility at John F. Kennedy
International Airport
(JFK) today, Congressman
Max Rose,
slammed bureaucratic
squabbles that has prevented
a new cutting
edge lab from being
built to better detect and
prevent illicit fentanyl
from being shipped into
the United States.
“Chinese-made fentanyl
is coming through
the mail into our communities
and causing incredible
damage—and it must
be stopped both at the source and
at critical ports of entry like JFK,”
said Rose, who chairs the Homeland
Security Subcommittee on Intelligence
and Counterterrorism.
“But instead, bureaucratic turf
wars and red tape have prevented a
critical lab from being installed at
our top international mail processing
center. If any of the involved
agencies drag their feet any longer,
I’m going to drag them to my district
so they can explain to the parents
AIRPORT V 20 OICE, SEPTEMBER 2019
and families who
have lost loved ones to
fentanyl-laced heroin
why they’re taking
their sweet time.”
In the tour and
briefing of the facility
with Customs and
Border Protection
(CBP) P{prt Director
Frank Russo, and the
United States Postal
Service, Rose learned
that the General Services
Administration,
which manages all federal
buildings, and the
Port Authority of New
York & New Jersey,
which oversees JFK, have delayed
finalizing an agreement that
would allow the installation of
new screening and testing equipment
to better detect and interdict
illicit fentanyl in the mail.
Last month, Rose chaired a
hearing in which he received confirmation
that CBP has failed to implement
or make significant progress
on recommendations made in
an Inspector General report from
last September regarding deficiencies
in CBP’s inspection processes
at JFK, where more than half of all
international mail is processed.
Rose, a member of the Freshmen
Working Group on Addiction,
has made combating the opioid
epidemic and raising awareness
around the disease of addiction a
top priority. As part of the National
Defense Authorization Act, both
the House and Senate passed Rose’s
bipartisan Fentanyl Sanctions Act
to apply pressure on the Chinese
government to honor their commitment
to make all fentanyl illegal
and provide the United States with
more tools and resources to go after
illicit traffickers in China, Mexico,
and other countries.
Additionally, the House Committee
on Homeland Security
passed legislation from Rose to
help crack down on the inflow of
foreign fentanyl and other opioids
into the United States. Following a
bipartisan push by Rose to increase
funding for opioid prevention and
treatment efforts, the House of Representatives
passed legislation that
increases funding to the agency responsible
for supporting these efforts
by $129 million.
U.S. Customs
adjusts fees
MPF Class 499 affected.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
has adjusted the amounts for its merchandise
processing fees (MPF) for fiscal
year 2020 to reflect changes due to
inflation. The agency said the MPF ad
valorem rate of 0.3464% will not change.
However, the MPF minimum and maximum
for formal import entries (class
code 499) will increase slightly. The
MPF is based on the value of the merchandise
being imported, excluding
duty, freight and insurance charges.
Starting Oct. 1, the MPF minimum
will increase from $26.22 to $26.79, while
the MPF maximum will rise from $508.70
to $519.76, CBP said.
CBP is required to annually review
and adjust MPF and other user fees under
the Consolidated Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
Other CBP user fees that will change
in fiscal year 2020 include informal entry
or release (class code 311) ($2.14),
surcharge for manual entry or release
($3.21) and dutiable mail feel (class code
496) ($5.89). The customs broker permit
user fee will be $147.89.
JFK Port Director
Frank Russo shows
Congressman Rose
examples of counterfeit,
illegal fentanyl
and opioid intercepted
at JFK Airport.
PAPD & JFKIAT Security Teams. (L-R) Officer Parco-PAPD, Officer Johnson-PAPD, Noah Ruch – JFKIAT Security
Supervisor, Maegan Farrell – JFKIAT Security Supervisor, Marc Fortin – Security Manager, Stacey Lora
– JFKIAT VP Security, Lt. Thomas Lomonaco – PAPD, Josephine Vaccaro – JFKIAT Security Administrator, Roy
Sinvany – JFKIAT Asst Facility Manager, Lt. Daniel Rhien - PAPD. Photos by Eric Dunetz
Men of the Joint Empire Task Force. Officers of the NY State Police tasked to patrol the airport.