TSA Finally Gets a New Leader ...

... what, if any, impact that will have on the agency’s bureaucracy and the aviation industry’s security remains to be seen. There are skeptics. On Thursday, John Pistole, currently the second in command at the FBI, will officially become head of the Transportation Security Administration, after passing the muster of Senate confirmation hearings last week. Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WVA) sums up the attitude of many with his comment, “It's embarrassing, you know, that such an enormous undertaking doesn't have the leadership that it needs." At the head of the class among the skeptics sits Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, who expressed his thoughts candidly recently with a commentary at Politico.com. Mica charges that the agency is in “disarray and bogged down in bureaucracyâ€. A few of Rep. Mica’s thoughts … ... TSA “has bloated from a modestly sized, pre-September 11 force of 16,500 private airport screeners into a massive, inefficient bureaucracy of more than 60,000â€. … “Another problem is that more than 200 TSA staffers earn more than the agency's top position. This critical position requires more stability, and the TSA must be able to attract the most qualified individuals to lead it.†… “The TSA bureaucracy does all it can to thwart any conversion to a system with more private-sector operations and strong federal oversight and standards. This agency cannot, and should not, do it all.†… “Given TSA's troubled history and multiple failures in aviation security, I remain concerned that we are not as prepared as we should be to assess, prevent, and respond to terrorist threats to our nation's other transportation systems.†Rep. Mica calls TSA a “rudderless agency†that is in need of re-evaluation and reorganization. Right now, the focus on Capitol Hill and the White House appears to be on the organization of TSA employees via unionization. One has to wonder how serious Washington is about aviation security when at various confirmation hearings a primary discussion topic has been about unions and TSA employees. Rep. Mica expresses concern that there are too many bureaucrats already at TSA and many may already be overpaid; the ruling party in Washington seems more concerned with entrenching those bureaucrats. Personally, as Rep. Mica’s opinion piece suggests, I’m all for more privatization of the security regimen. Then let the unionization chips fall where they may. But then, calls for less government are not in vogue in Obama’s Washington, so it’s almost a sure thing that TSA and the unions will soon join forces. Whether or not security will be enhanced – well, only time will tell. We wish John Pistole the best in getting his arms around this bureaucratic monster. Thanks for reading. jfi