SFO — The security camera system at San Francisco International Airport will be upgraded with $5 million in funds from the federal government, officials announced Friday.

"This is important for obvious reasons," airport spokesman Mike McCarron said. "We need security cameras to keep track of what's going on at the airport, especially at its access points. This money will let us enhance or expand the system where we need it."

The money comes from the Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

TSA runs a program offering funding to airports across the country to boost their security systems, spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said.

"So far we've awarded $241 million from that program," Trevino said. "In choosing the airports that will get funding, we look at whether they have a critical need to increase operational efficiency, their readiness to begin and complete the project, and the airport's ability to cost share, to use their own funds along with what we provide."

"Mostly these funds are used for closed-circuit television systems like the one we're funding at SFO," she added, "or else they use them for in-line baggage systems, where you hand your check bags to a ticket taker and they go onto a continuous conveyor to where we use technology like X-rays to screen all the bags coming in."

John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, is getting $8.8 million for a baggage system

"The addition of new cameras as well as increased storage capability on pre-existing cameras will be a tremendous asset," Federal Security Director Ed Gomez said.

Airport Director John L. Martin said, "We are extremely appreciative of the additional funding TSA has provided"... SFO's number one priority has been, and always will be, the safety and security of everyone traveling through and working at the San Francisco International Airport."

SFO's total annual operating budget is about $650 million, McCarron said. He said he did not know how much of that is devoted to security.