Transportation Security: Action Needed to Strengthen TSA's Security Threat Assessment Process Page: 2 of 48
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Highlights
Highlights of GAO-13-629, a report to the
Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland
Security, House of RepresentativesWhy GAO Did This Study
TSA implements programs that, for
example, ensure individuals with
unescorted access to secure areas of
the nation's critical transportation
infrastructure do not pose a security
threat. Key to these programs are
security threat assessments that
screen individuals for links to terrorism,
criminal history, and immigration
status. TSA's Adjudication Center
serves as the primary operational
component in this process. GAO was
asked to examine the performance and
staffing strategy of the center. This
report addresses the extent to which
1) TSA has measured performance for
the center and what the data show;
2) TSA offices have coordinated to
meet security threat assessment
workload; and 3) TSA addressed
potential risks posed by using a mix of
government employees and
contractors to adjudicate security
threat assessments. GAO analyzed
TSA data describing the center's
performance since October 2010;
reviewed documentation, including
staffing plans; and interviewed TSA
officials about data measurement and
staffing practices.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that TSA, among
other things: direct the Adjudication
Center to calculate an accuracy rate
that includes adjudicator performance
for cases where applicants were both
approved and disqualified; share
adjudicator staffing plans among key
program offices; and update its
Adjudication Center workforce
conversion plan and provide it to DHS
for review and approval. DHS
concurred with our recommendations.
View GAO-13-629. For more information,
contact Jennifer A. Grover at (202) 512-7141
or groverj@gao.gov.TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
Action Needed to Strengthen TSA's Security Threat
Assessment ProcessWhat GAO Found
The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Adjudication Center
performance data show mixed results, and the center's performance
measurement practices have limitations. The Adjudication Center relies on
contractors to adjudicate security threat assessments and uses three primary
measures to evaluate their performance-timeliness for completing adjudication,
adjudication accuracy, and caseload status. GAO found that the Adjudication
Center contractor met its timeliness and accuracy measures, but faced
challenges in meeting its caseload measure. The Adjudication Center's
timeliness and accuracy measures did not capture key data. According to TSA
officials, the Adjudication Center's accuracy rate is based on a review of all cases
where adjudicators had disqualified an applicant. However, this calculation
generally does not include the accuracy rate for those applicants adjudicators
had approved-which account for roughly 90 percent of the Adjudication Center's
caseload. In this way, the accuracy rate provides a limited assessment of
adjudicator performance. By developing an accuracy rate that includes data on
both incorrectly disqualified and incorrectly approved applicants, TSA can better
identify and addresses performance issues among its workforce.
Two TSA offices that share responsibility for implementing security threat
assessments-the Program Management Division in the Office of Intelligence
and Analysis and the Adjudication Center in the Office of Law
Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service-can improve coordination on
workforce planning. While the offices share information on workload completion,
they do not have a process in place to ensure that information in the Adjudication
Center's staffing plan-which the Adjudication Center periodically updates to
reflect caseload projections and associated staffing needs-reflects the mutual
understanding of both offices. For example, program managers in the Office of
Intelligence and Analysis reported to GAO that they were unfamiliar with the
staffing plan and they disagreed with workload projections in the plan.
Establishing a mechanism for the offices to share and reconcile information in the
plan can help better support the Adjudication Center's workforce planning.
TSA has been delayed in addressing risks posed by using contractors to
adjudicate security threat assessments. In October 2011 TSA's Balanced
Workforce Strategy Working Group completed its assessment for the
Adjudication Center and determined that an excessive risk exists by allowing
contractors to make security threat assessment approvals without sufficient
federal oversight. The Working Group recommended that TSA convert to an all
government workforce. According to a May 2012 implementation plan, TSA
planned to convert this workforce by the end of calendar year 2013. However,
delays have rendered the timelines and cost information in its plan outdated and
TSA has not updated the plan or determined a revised implementation schedule.
Completing this review and updating the plan would help TSA and Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) decision makers by providing a roadmap for moving
forward. Finally, providing this plan to DHS for review will be important to help
ensure TSA can begin its conversion and mitigate identified risks of using
contract adjudicators to conduct security threat assessments.United States Government Accountability Office
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Transportation Security: Action Needed to Strengthen TSA's Security Threat Assessment Process, report, July 19, 2013; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc301559/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.