News & Media

National Security Service Meets SXM Over Screening

SIMPSON BAY, St. Maarten (Monday, July 21, 2014) - The vast majority of the employees of the Princess Juliana International Airport, SXM, will have to undergo security screening administered by the National Security Service St. Maarten. In addition the managing director and all seven supervisory board members will also have to do the same. Members of the National Security Service St. Maarten revealed this following a presentation when they visited SXM on Thursday, July 17.

The presentation titled “Positions of Confidentiality and Security Screening” was given to members of SXM management team who represented the first of specific groups of employees who will receive similar presentations and ultimately undergo the Security Screening process administered by the National Security Service.
 It has been determined that 229 employees who occupy positions of confidentiality at the airport will have to be screened. Such positions include functions where access is given or needed in relation to confidential information or positions where the individual needs access to the secured/sterile area of an airport or seaport. Consequently, some members of the Airport community (those ancillary businesses operating at SXM Airport) would also undergo said screening.

“We fully welcome this screening process, which is standard at international airports all over the world,” said SXM managing director, Regina LaBega who attended the presentation.

LaBega encouraged management team members to embrace the security screening process and cooperate fully with the National Security Service as it is in the best interest of the island.  She also urged her management team to begin to prepare their staff by relaying the information gathered during the presentation in such a way that would make staffers feel at ease and comfortable with the process.   

Following the security screening, the National Security Service will provide employees in the so-called “positions of confidentiality” a “declaration of no objection.” This means that the National Security Service has no particular objections regarding the employee’s appointment.

This mandatory screening process, though new for St. Maarten, is governed by law. As a result of its new constitutional status, St. Maarten has had to establish its own National Security Service, and this security screening process is one of the tasks assigned to the Service.