Four years posterior, the efficiency, priorities and conduct with regards to aviation security remain a controversial topic. Billions of dollars have been spent on homeland security since 9/11, having done little to improve the nation's security and a plan to spend billions more to alter security systems is already in the works.
Challenging Mandates
Since 2001, aviation screening, including machinery and personnel, has cost more than $15 billion according to Representative John L. Mica(R). Though mandated by Congress, Mica admits more research and development on technology should have taken place before installing equipment and the implementation should have occurred gradually.
A recent Associated Press article stated that the Transportation Safety Association (TSA) bought 1,344 machines costing more than $1 million each to search for explosives in checked bags but due to weaknesses with the equipment, false alarms occur with 15 to 30 percent of all luggage. The false alarms create the need for more personnel to examine the bags one at a time. Also, instead of integrating the machines into the baggage conveyor systems, they were placed in lobbies, slowing the screening process and pushing up labor costs by "hundreds of millions of dollars a year." In addition, the National Academy of Sciences claims passenger screening equipment, including 5,000 new metal detectors, X-ray machines and devices to detect traces of explosives, can be unreliable.
Following the events of 9/11, the TSA was given two key mandates; position federal screeners in all 450 commercial airports and begin screening one hundred percent of checked luggage for explosives. "On 9/11, five percent of all checked luggage was screened for explosives. The TSA had 15 months to deploy equipment to screen 100 percent," says Deidre O'Sullivan, TSA public affairs specialist. Given the stringent mandates and a short timeline, the TSA used equipment that had been certified by their lab and hastily installed it. "Could it have gone more efficiently? Maybe," says O'Sullivan, "but we had to put it in - and we had to put it in fast."
There are also questions looming about what has been labeled TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Card) and the badging process. What is the status? Who will have to carry a TWIC badge? What will the parameters be? Currently, anyone carrying a Security Identification Display Area (SIDA) badge giving them unescorted access to secure locations within the airport is required to have a background check. If TWIC becomes a reality two things will occur; 1) it will apply not only to aviation workers but to all transportation workers and 2) the card, in addition to a photo ID, may contain a chip containing fingerprints in the form of biometric information. "The amount of information needed to acquire a SIDA badge will not change - the only difference is whether or not the card is going to contain a biometric chip," explains O'Sullivan. The necessary TSA criteria for the biometric credentials are currently being developed and negotiations with a number of labs to test various technologies are already underway.
Priorities for the Next Four Years
- Results from a "top-down review" by Secretary Michael Chertoff of all departments in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are expected to be revealed within the next month.
- The TWIC program is still in the prototype phase at more than twenty sites across the country through June 30th after which the data will be analyzed and a determination whether to move forward will be made.
- Though TSA has met all past mandates and initiated a number of programs including; 1) actions to update the basic screener training course, 2) introduction of the Online Learning Center and 3) establishment of a recurrent training requirement; the May GAO report to the aviation subcommittee is recommending that the Secretary of Homeland Security direct TSA to develop a plan for completing the deployment of high-speed internet connectivity at airport training facilities and to establish and communicate appropriate internal controls for monitoring completion of the training. The TSA plans to finalize these targets by the end of fiscal year 2005.
The nation may be more secure compared to having no technologies in place at all but at what cost? In Congress's haste to present a commitment to security to the public after 9/11, they spent "greater amounts of money than ever before," according to Rep. Christopher Cox(R), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, which"... brought us...some expensive mistakes."
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