Air-Travel Prescreening Is Laden with Baggage

Bill Johnstone, a former Senate aide and staff member of the Sept. 11 commission, says Secure Flight's problems over the years are chiefly the consequence of the agency's leadership changes.

Johnstone spoke of "a lack of strategic direction" at the TSA. "You have it ebb and flow, based on the attitudes of the leadership at the time," he said.

Hawley has tried to dispel any suggestion of drift under his watch. His agency told the GAO earlier this year that it would complete the effort to revamp the Secure Flight program by September. But after unresolved privacy and airline industry concerns forced him to miss that deadline, Hawley now says there is no target date for establishing rules for the program. Now, he says, "we're focused on doing it right and not doing it fast."

There is no argument about that. Even after the rules have been made, the TSA will need up to two years to test the program, says James Jay Carafano, a homeland security expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy research organization in Washington.

And although the TSA said last year that it could staff the program with its own intelligence analysts, the agency now needs to hire more analysts to get the program working. According to program manager Rowe, "We have a couple of other roles to fill."

Overall, the problems that the Secure Flight program has experienced during the past three years have left government overseers dubious about its prospects.

Cathleen Berrick, a GAO official who oversees homeland security programs, says that despite TSA's efforts, she has detected little to give airline travelers the confidence that the unseen security precautions promised by the administration are actually taking shape. "I just don't exactly know what it is they're doing," she said.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.