Aviation Security: Transportation Security Administration Has Made Progress in Managing a Federal Security Workforce and Ensuring Security at U.S. Airports, but Challenges Remain Page: 3 of 41
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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's hearing to discuss the
management and deployment of federal employees charged with securing
U.S. commercial airports. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, securing the
nation's aviation system-and ensuring that a federal workforce was in
place to carry out a wide range of aviation security responsibilities-
became a key goal of the administration and the Congress. Among the
actions taken to address this need, the Aviation and Transportation
Security Act (ATSA) of 2001, which established the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA), charged the agency with, among other
things, overseeing security operations at the nation's more than
400 commercial airports.' In TSA, the federal workforce comprises, among
others, federal security directors (FSDs)-the ranking authority
responsible for leading and coordinating security activities at airports;
transportation security officers (TSO), formerly known as screeners; and
inspectors responsible for ensuring that air carriers, airport employees
and airport vendors comply with established security requirements.
My testimony today addresses two separate areas related to the
management and oversight of the federal airport security workforce:
(1) the progress TSA has made, and the challenges it faces, in managing a
federalized security workforce with operational responsibility for ensuring
security of passengers and their baggage, and (2) the actions TSA has
taken, and the challenges it faces, to ensure appropriate regulatory
oversight of other airport security activities.
My comments are based on issued GAO reports and testimonies
addressing the security of the U.S. commercial aviation system and our
ongoing work on TSA's staffing standards for TSOs. We did our work in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Appendix I contains a list of related GAO products issued since September
11, 2001.
IATSA created TSA as an agency within the Department of Transportation (DOT) with
responsibility for securing all modes of transportation, including aviation. Pub. L. No. 107-
71, 101, 115 Stat. 597 (2001). The Homeland Security Act of 2002, signed into law on
November 25, 2002, transferred TSA from the DOT to the new Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). Pub. L. No. 107-296, 403, 116 Stat. 2135, 2178.GAO-06-597T
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Aviation Security: Transportation Security Administration Has Made Progress in Managing a Federal Security Workforce and Ensuring Security at U.S. Airports, but Challenges Remain, text, April 4, 2006; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc291353/m1/3/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.