By Calvin Biesecker
The head of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) division that assesses whether foreign airports and other international aviation-related entities are complying with baseline international security standards told a House panel yesterday that his office is understaffed.
When the Office of Global Strategies (OGS) stood up over three years ago, compliance with security standards was the primary focus area, John Halinski, assistant administrator for Global Strategies, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security. But with following the attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard an airplane bound for the United States and another try last year to hide explosives in cargo originating from Yemen and destined for the United States, TSA’s requirements for international aviation security have grown, he said.
“So you would advocate for increased resources to provide the kind of skilled, trained personnel that can help in these expanded [missions for international] airports?” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), ranking member on the subcommittee, asked Halinski.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied.
In addition to a focus on compliance, OGS also does outreach and engagement and capacity development with international airports that serve as last points of departure for flights into the United States, foreign governments, overseas cargo facilities, foreign repair stations and domestic and U.S. air carriers that fly direct to the United States. Security assessments, inspections to identify risks to the international transport system, help with implementing security standards, training, threat alerts, technical assistance and help building sustainable practices are all ways that OGS carries out TSA’s mission overseas, Halinski said.
Halinski has about 160 personnel working for him, most of which work overseas. These include about 50 inspectors, 25 TSA representatives as well as industry representatives that work with foreign air carriers, he said. OGS was budgeted to get another 75 positions in FY ’11, but these haven’t been authorized, he said.
But the number of entities OGS deals with is staggering.
There are about 300 airports worldwide that have flights destined for the United States, Haliniski said. On top of that are about 1,000 air carriers flying into and out of the country, about 750 foreign repair stations that air carriers use, and another 400 to 500 facilities that handle air cargo, he said. A large percentage of these entities are in Europe, including 64 airports, another four airports that handle cargo, and 452 foreign repair stations, he said.
As for actual assessments and the like, Halinski said that in the past 18 months his inspectors have conducted assessments at 185 airports, over 1,100 foreign air carriers and 290 cargo stations. In addition, Halinski’s office has visited 154 foreign repair stations and conducted dozens of aviation security training sessions, he said.
Despite being resource challenged, Halinski’s office isn’t standing still. OGS recently created a rapid response team to deal with international incident management and has visited Japan in the wake of the nuclear and tsunami disasters, Haiti following the massive earthquake last year, and Yemen after the air cargo bomb threat was uncovered.
Australia, Europe and Canada are countries and regions where the quality of aviation security is comparable to the United States, Halinski said. But in Africa and areas of the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America the standards fall short compared to those in the United States and Europe, he said.
Still, Halinksi said progress is being made. In Nigeria, where the Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab began his journey to the United States, OGS has worked with that country to increase its security system “ten-fold, I would say now,” he said. Nigeria “is one of the few countries in the world” that use whole body imaging systems for primary screening at airport checkpoints, he said.
Halinski said his office has worked with Nigeria so that two of its airports now have direct flights to the United States.
“I think it’s important to get on the record the kind of impact that this particular office has had in ramping up the security parameters of countries that you would not expect to have that,” Jackson-Lee said.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the subcommittee, said he and Jackson-Lee agree that OGS needs more than its present 50 inspectors and more than 25 TSA representatives.