A report released yesterday by House Republicans of two committees lambastes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for being inefficient, ineffective, overly bureaucratic and not developing and deploying effective screening technology.
The criticisms in the report are wide ranging and the list of complaints long. For example, it says that the agency’s “status and mission have gradually eroded” due to being a “tangential” component within the “massive structure” of the Department of Homeland Security, losing “focus on its security mission, instead of concentrating on setting and enforcing security standards and protocols.”
The report criticizes TSA’s spending on its behavior detection program, $800 million since 2007 and another $1.2 billion over the next five years, yet only not one terrorist caught despite 17 terrorists traveling on 24 separate occasions through eight airports where the agency has operated the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program.
In the technology area, the report questions the continued use of whole body imagers at security checkpoints, citing the Government Accountability Office as saying it’s unclear whether the machines would have uncovered the bomb carried in the 2009 underwear bomber incident, and notes that the agency is warehousing 2,800 pieces of screening equipment, including 650 Advanced Technology-2 X-ray systems used to screen carry-on bags.
“TSA’s failure to deploy this cutting-edge technology in a timely manner is yet another example of the agency’s flawed procurement and deployment program,” says the report.
The report, A Decade Later: A Call for TSA Reform, calls for elevating the status of the agency and its administrator. The report was prepared by the House Republican staffs of the Transportation and Infrastructure and the Oversight and Government Reform Committees.
“Congress created TSA 10 years ago to be a lean, risk-based, adaptive agency, responsible for analyzing intelligence, setting security standards, and overseeing the nation’s transportation security structure,” Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the Transportation panel, said at a press briefing to release the report. “Unfortunately, TSA has lost its way.”
Mica, a vociferous critic of TSA, acknowledged that the nation is safer today from terrorist attacks perpetrated through airplanes but that this is due mainly to more vigilant passengers and U.S. citizens, hardened cockpit doors and armed pilots, and help from foreign intelligence agencies.
The report says that given these various factors in mitigating the likelihood of a terrorist attack in the skies, “TSA should prioritize its security measures to address the current threat of explosives.”
To improve leadership with TSA, the report suggests re-examining the length of term of the appointment and the compensation of the agency administrator and making the appointment a priority for the president.
Other recommendations include focusing TSA on its role as a regulator, intelligence analyzer and establisher of risk-based security standards and moving away from the “human resources business.” Mica called the agency top-heavy, with nearly 4,000 headquarters staff, nearly 9,700 field administrators, out of 65,000 employees. The report calls for a dramatic reduction of administrative personnel
Mica, who strongly opposes a TSA decision earlier this year to freeze a program in place that allows airports to opt-out of using federal screeners in favor of private security screeners, wants airports to be given free-hand to select from agency-qualified private contractors for screening services.
The report also calls for a stronger presence by TSA at overseas airports to better respond to “the international threat to the U.S. transportation network.”
The report is also critical of TSA’s lack of use of biometrics, in particular for not widely deploying biometric-enabled smart card readers as part of the seaport Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, and for identifying trusted travelers as part of an expedited screening program at airport security checkpoints.
Finally, the report wants a comprehensive assessment by an independent third party of TSA’s management, operations and technical capabilities. The assessment should include consultations with Congress, airport operators and other transportation industry stakeholders, it says.
A press advisory from Mica’s committee said there are plans to introduce legislation to improve TSA. Mica’s committee doesn’t have jurisdiction over TSA.
TSA recently evening provided a statement in response to the report.
“At a time when our country’s aviation system is safer, stronger, and more secure than it was 10 years ago, this report is an unfortunate disservice to the dedicated men and women of TSA who are on the frontlines every day protecting the traveling public,” TSA said.
TSA also pointed out that it has also just introduced a new risk-based passenger screening program, PreCheck, that is intelligence driven and provides expedited screening for select travelers. PreCheck is operational at four airports and will begin expanding to three more starting in December.