Aviation Security Progress Report
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Michael Fickes
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted two studies of the nation's aviation security system during 2007. Both evaluated progress made by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in satisfying 24 performance expectations that GAO had suggested in previous evaluations.
Last October, the second 2007 GAO study, “Transportation Security: Efforts to Strengthen Aviation and Surface Transportation Security are Under Way, but Challenges Remain,” reported that TSA had generally achieved 17 of those expectations and was continuing to work on seven.
The GAO described the seven remaining expectations by saying that TSA should:
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Establish standards and procedures for effective airport perimeter security.
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Establish standards and procedures to effectively control access to airport secured areas.
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Airport perimeter security
Establish procedures for implementing biometric identifier systems for airport secured areas access control.
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Develop and implement an advanced prescreening system to allow DHS to compare domestic passenger information to the Selectee List and No Fly List.
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Develop and implement an international passenger prescreening process to compare passenger information to terrorist watch lists before aircraft departure.
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Deploy checkpoint technologies to address vulnerabilities.
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Develop and implement technologies to screen air cargo.
What has TSA done to address these issues? Government Security asked TSA for a status report on the seven remaining aviation security issues identified by the GAO. TSA responded in an e-mail addressing each issue.
Controlling access to secure areas
Despite a few notable lapses in aviation security in recent years, the interchange between the GAO and TSA illustrates how the federal government is building an aviation security system. Two powerful federal agencies, one an implementer and the other an inspector, have been pushing and pulling each other since 9/11, building system components and then finding and fixing weaknesses.
The GAO report questioned the standards and procedures by which TSA secures the perimeter of airports.
“Airport perimeters certainly provide alternative ways to get into airports,” says Brian Jackson, associate director of the Homeland security program with Rand Corp.'s Arlington, Va., offices. “But I'm not sure that the vulnerability of the perimeter would involve a hijacking scenario — to get onto a plane. But someone might walk onto the property and hook up with a work crew. That's where credentialing checks becomes important.”
According to the TSA e-mail, the agency has implemented four processes to address this issue. First is a program called “See Something, Say Something,” which asks airport employees to report anything that seems unusual or out of the ordinary.
More formally, the Aviation Direct Access Screening Program (ADASP) assigns random screening responsibilities to Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). They will select individual airline and airport employees as they enter a security identification display area (SIDA) or an Air Operations Area (AOA), or a sterile area from an entrance other than a TSA checkpoint. The officers will check for the presence of explosives, incendiaries, weapons and other items of interest including credentials.
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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.
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