Leadership changes, new operating procedures and the initial infusion of addition security officers have led to decreased wait times for travelers passing through security checkpoints at some major airports, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
said on Wednesday.
TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger also said that his agency is examining new technology applications for checkpoint screening that are meant to increase passenger throughput to combat longer wait times that have been increasingly plaguing airlines and airports the past few months. The longer wait times are due to increased passenger traffic, a steady reduction in TSA screening personnel the last few years, a renewed emphasis on security versus convenience the past year, and slowness on the part of agency operators to make the right adjustments, Neffenger and other government officials and industry analysts have said.
The crush at airport security checkpoints recently led TSA to recommend that travelers arrive at airports three hours before their international flights are scheduled to depart. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Neffenger at a hearing to examine TSA screening operations that this is “unacceptable.”
Neffenger said that at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport passenger throughput has “dramatically improved” of late even though volume has increased due to recent leadership changes he made there related to screening operations, some operating adjustments, and the addition of more screening officers as a result of Congress approving a $34 million reprogramming request this spring for new hires and to convert some part-time positions to full-time.
At New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where maximum passenger wait times at checkpoints have increased 82 percent over last year, Neffenger said improvements there have also been “dramatic.” Decreases in wait times for standard and the PreCheck trusted traveler lanes are due to changes in operating procures to use personnel more effectively, the addition of new personnel, and shifting of canine dog teams to sniff passengers for explosives.
The recent establishment of a new National Incident Command Center to monitor checkpoint screening operations “on an hourly basis” is enabling TSA to move good ideas around airports faster, Neffenger said. The center is monitoring projected volume, staffing, lane availability and actual wait times to “address critical concerns in real time” at the nation’s busiest airports, he told the committee.
Neffenger also said that he has given the agency’s Federal Security Directors at airports flexibility to repurpose Behavior Detection Officers (BDO), which patrol airports and observe individuals for suspicious behavior, for screening operations such as travel document checks. The BDOs can still employ their behavior detection skills while performing screening duties, he said.
TSA, working with Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, this week began operating two automated screening lanes that feature automatic bin return systems that are part of the carry-on baggage X-ray screening machines, RFID tags and camera systems that tie bags to an individual, and additional divestiture stations. Neffenger noted that these automated screening lines are already in operation in Europe and said that at London’s Heathrow Airport passenger throughput has increased between 20 to 25 percent while providing the same level of security effectiveness.
With passenger volumes increasing more screening lanes need to be automated and more technology needs to be adopted, Neffenger said. He also said the agency is working with software companies to examine how the X-ray baggage screening systems can become better at detecting prohibited items that system operators have to observe manually.
Another area where technology could be better applied is identity matching, Neffenger said, pointing out that kiosks equipped with some forms of identity readers are already in use and possibly can automate the identity check process.
Enrollments in TSA’s PreCheck program are also rising, which could help alleviate some of the checkpoint stress, Neffenger said. Enrollments in the fee-based trusted traveler program are up nearly three times last year’s rate at this time, he said.
TSA earlier this year stood up an Innovation Task Force to begin looking at emerging capabilities to apply to various airport checkpoints nationally. Last Friday the agency, through its new task force, issued a Broad Agency Announcement seeking individual solutions or processes, and ways to integrate individual components, to improve screening operations in the near and long-term.
The committee on Thursday morning will continue its review of TSA screening operations and checkpoint lines when it convenes a hearing that includes airport operators, an airline official, and the president of the federal employee union that represents TSA officers.