With key checkpoint acquisition programs currently stretching out into the 2030s and beyond, Transportation Security Agency Administrator David Pekoske says the agency’s capital account is now a key focus area.
Pekoske told separate congressional committees in July that it will be in the mid-2040s before TSA completes the deployment of next-generation credential authentication technology (CAT) systems to airports nationwide. Late in 2021, he had said it will be about 2036 before TSA is able to complete the rollout of checkpoint computed tomography (CT) systems at all U.S. airports.
The reason for the lengthy acquisition and deployment plans is constrained spending, he said.
“That’s why my focus is on getting the capital account of TSA at a level more commensurate with where we see the need to close security gaps, which CAT does,” Pekoske told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 21 during his confirmation hearing for a second five-year term to lead the agency.
Earlier in July the TSA chief told the Senate Commerce Committee that it would take until about 2046 to deploy the CAT-2 systems at all U.S. airports.
TSA continues to roll out the basic CAT devices, which are desktop units installed with the agency’s Travel Document Checkers that scan a passenger’s travel credential to enable automated checks against the Secure Flight database to ensure that the traveler has a flight reservation that day and to check their vetting status. The devices also authenticate the traveler’s credential.
The agency has been conducting field evaluations of the CAT-2 system, which includes a camera to take a photo of a passenger to either match it against the photo on their travel document or compare it to images in a small database maintained by Customs and Border Protection for flights from a particular airport that day.
IDEMIA is the current contractor for CAT. TSA is planning further evaluations of CAT-2 devices and said in May that a solicitation for the biometric-equipped system is forthcoming.
House appropriators have agreed to provide $22.3 million for the CAT program in fiscal year 2023. Around 2,000 CAT devices have been deployed. TSA officials have said in addition to acquiring CAT-2 devices, they will upgrade existing installed systems with a camera.
Any focus on TSA’s anemic procurement account would be a good thing. The agency had previously made the acquisition of checkpoint CT machines a priority but of late barely has more than $100 million annually to spend on the systems.
As of early June, TSA had deployed 420 checkpoint CT systems, 299 from Smiths Detection, 107 from Analogic, eight from Integrated Defense & Security Solutions, and six from Leidos [LDOS]. Smiths won the first contract and Analogic two follow-on awards. Analogic continues to supply its checkpoint CT systems to the agency under the contracts. The systems purchased from IDSS and Leidos were for part of the original evaluation of the checkpoint CT technology and are still being used.
TSA wants to eventually purchase and deploy around 2,400 checkpoint CT systems.
Pekoske late in 2021 said that TSA needs about $350 million annually to complete the checkpoint CT deployments within the next five years. In FY ’22, Congress provided about $105 million for the program and TSA is seeking the same amount in FY ’23.
One way for TSA might get around its funding constraints if is airlines and airports purchase technology and then donate it to the agency. This has happened in a few instances with checkpoint CT systems.