The increasing adoption of risk-based security programs and screening within the Transportation Security Administration should result in long-term savings, at least with the personnel accounts, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tells a House panel.
With risk based screening measures, particularly with the PreCheck program at aviation security checkpoints, there isn’t the need for as many Transportation Security Officers, Napolitano tells the House Homeland Security Committee. TSA’s goal by the end of 2013 is to have one-quarter of airline passengers participating in some type of expedited screening program and if that goal is met, “we should see some sort of reduction, certainly in growth in personnel shortly thereafter,” she says.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chairman of the panel’s Transportation Security Subcommittee, says he expects “significant cost savings” as risk based screening measures are increasingly used. In addition to risk-based protocols, he says more capable technology such as body imagers equipped with privacy software should also be leading to a drawdown in the screener workforce.
Napolitano says that while savings, even if just in slowing the rate of personnel growth, will be found as risk based screening ramps up, there will still be the need to fully fund programs like PreCheck in terms of making sure the resources are available for the necessary background checks to prescreen individuals that are included in these programs.
In the FY ’14 budget request for TSA, the only significant request for checkpoint technology relates to portable explosive trace detectors, of which the agency plans to purchase 250 of the devices on top of the 125 planned to be bought in FY ’13. No funds are requested for the purchase of additional Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines, benchtop ETDs, Advanced Technology X-Ray systems, credential authentication technology, or bottled liquid scanners.
In addition to expanding PreCheck to more airlines in 2013, TSA also plans to open the program to applicants that hold federal security clearances. The agency also plans to extend expedited screening benefits to eligible travelers on outbound international flights and expand the used of its new Managed Inclusion program, whereby selected passengers that are not part of a trusted traveler program may be invited to use a PreCheck lane at an airport if they are deemed to be low risk by Behavior Detection Officers and the use of bomb sniffing dogs.
Regarding AIT units, TSA says that it is still reviewing how many units it may need in the future to achieve full operational capability. The agency so far has purchased 1,000 units. That is about 1,000 below previous estimates of full operational capability.