The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may invest up to $2.2 billion over the next five years in five strategic areas and says its sees broad application across the transportation domain for its Risk-Based Security approach to passenger screening that it continues to implement at aviation checkpoints at U.S. airports.
The agency also says that visions for the checkpoint of the future and for checked baggage “remain a work in progress” but that the investments in the strategic plan will provide the “flexibility and interoperability” that open up new “possibilities for the future of screening and transportation security.”
The five priority strategic areas for investment are aviation threat detection, real time threat assessment, integration and flexibility, systems engineering and governance, and intermodal threat detection, according to the Transportation Security Strategic Capability Investment Plan, which was prepared by the agency’s Office of Security Capabilities (OSC). The plan was released on May 30 by OSC, which is responsible for implementing advanced security solution for TSA.
Within each strategic area, the document describes the investment plans, needs and how the need fits within its investment priorities, which are described as core, adjacent and transformational. Core capabilities are expected to get about 70 percent of investments and provide capabilities within two years, adjacent capabilities will get 20 percent of funds and generate results in two to four years, while transformational capabilities will get 10 percent of the investments and “seed innovation broadly.”
Following is a breakout of the strategic focus areas and the investment priorities within each:
- Aviation Threat Detection: The plan outlines five priority areas for investment, including accelerating the development and testing of X-Ray and imaging screening technology solutions and targeted algorithms to allow passengers to divest less at the checkpoint (Core); enhance the performance of explosive detection systems by developing high resolution trace detectors (Adjacent); improve checkpoint X-Ray and imaging technologies through enhanced algorithms to better detect existing and new threats, lower false alarm rates, develop dynamic algorithms for a flexible approach to threat detection, and integrate security capabilities through the Security Technology Integrated Program (STIP) to support real-time data collection of system performance (Core); develop credential authentication technology that only legitimate passengers and personnel gain access to the secure area of an airport and that the technology can connect to multiple databases, including Secure Flight (Core); and develop advanced capabilities to enhance checked baggage technology such as new detectors and algorithms and increase useful life of screening systems (Adjacent).
- Real Time Threat Assessment: Three areas are outlined for investment including improving canine threat detection capabilities and broadening their operational utility (Core); improve the performance of Transportation Security Officers by identifying and the factors that impact human performance in the screening of passengers and baggage, including standardization of interfaces to reduce that amount of variation they face (Transformational); and broaden behavior-based detection capabilities, screening capabilities and technologies (Adjacent);
- Integration and Flexibility: The three priority areas here are accelerating networking capabilities through STIP program to develop an integrated, near-real time view of capabilities in the field, and develop real-time analytic capabilities for machine data collected through STIP (Core); employ alternative approaches to testing and evaluation so that new capabilities can be sufficiently tested early in the process and matured to a level of readiness for formal testing (Core); and develop standardized technology platforms, interfaces and data formats, enabling the “establishment of modular security systems platforms.” (Transformational).
- Systems Engineering and Governance: The priority investment areas include improving risk assessment capabilities by obtaining more insight into threat vulnerabilities and developing new tools and standardized assessment methodologies that integrate analysis outputs (Adjacent); and make OSC’s operational data more meaningful by developing new capabilities such as a business intelligence data warehousing tool, and developing analytical capabilities to identify common technology failure contributors and enable proactive maintenance actions to reduce equipment downtime and extend useful life (Adjacent).
- Intermodal Threat Detection: OSC doesn’t procure intermodal capabilities but does work with stakeholders to analyze the technology landscape, conduct technology assessments and evaluations, establish product databases and authorization lists, and provide input to the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate on research and development plans and investments. Priority areas include enhancing detection capabilities for chemical and biological threats in both indoor and outdoor environments, including pilot testing of systems; improving high throughput threat detection capabilities, including providing non-invasive or stand-off screening of passengers, baggage, freight and vehicles; improving surveillance and anomaly detection technologies such as intrusion detection, persons of interest, intruder deterrent solutions, and technologies to remotely disrupt explosives and anomalies in a limited area around a threat; and enhancing system resilience and recovery capabilities.
The $2.2 billion planned for investment between FY ’15 and FY ’19 is contained within the EDS and aviation security checkpoint support accounts of TSA’s budget. The lion’s share of the estimated spending is related to EDS and falls between $334 million to $338 million annually.
Under the checkpoint support account TSA plans to spend between $104 million and $110 million annually.
The plan also outlines notional scenarios for how TSA and its partners might integrate difference capabilities to transform “the way current processes and systems interact.” One scenario is to link a passenger with his or her checked bag for a risk-based approach to checked baggage screening, eliminating the current one-size-fits-all approach.
The second scenario is for automated and real-time risk-based passenger screening and might involve integrating credential authentication technology or something else with STIP and other checkpoint technologies or developing business intelligence capabilities to enable better risk designations.