Greater coordination is needed between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), transportation security officers, and private security technology stakeholders to combat long wait times for travelers at the nation’s airports, a group of industry experts said on Thursday.
The House Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Protective Security convened on Capitol Hill to discuss the evolving nature of security threats and how new technologies, improved staffing practices, and enhanced departmental communication could improve the speed and safety of air travel.
“Over the last few years we saw record breaking numbers of Americans traveling,” said U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY), chairman of the Transportation and Protective Security Subcommittee. “Unfortunately, TSA was at times ill-prepared for the volume of travelers and was caught flat-footed. At the height of the wait time crisis last summer, news coverage showed passengers stranded at airports overnight due to long TSA wait times.”
Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said the advent of the TSA PreCheck trusted traveler program was a major breakthrough in improving the travel experience. While TSA saw successes with the PreCheck program, Dow cited a number of issues that hindered overall travel and offered a series of recommendations to fix long wait times.
Some of the recommendations made by Dow included redirecting passenger fees to cover the cost of and improving overall TSA screening operations and expanding the TSA PreCheck trusted traveler program to expedite overall wait times for passengers.
Additionally, Dow recommended reducing the cost of PreCheck for both families and corporate groups, utilizing REAL ID Act compliant identification cards for PreCheck enrollment, instead of the two forms of identification currently needed; and clarifying the role of third party vendors.
Nina Brooks, head of security at Airports Council International (ACI), cited the successes of its “Smart Security” Program, which aims to expedite screening procedures for passengers with minimal inconvenience and to allocate security resources based on risk.
Brooks said the three objectives of the program were delivering strengthened security procedures with advanced detection technologies, increasing operational efficiencies, and improving passenger and staff experience.
By utilizing automated screening systems, such as tray handling systems, some airports have reported an increased flow of travelers of up to 20 percent. In addition, airports that implemented full-body scanners as a primary or secondary measure for passenger screening helped in reducing overall wait times and the need for manual searches.
Regarding staffing issues with transportation security officers (TSO), J. David Cox of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) cited a reduction of 5,000 officers over the last four years as an issue that has exacerbated wait times and decreased screening effectiveness.
“Those 5,000 that have been lost needs to be returned,” Cox said when asked what could be done to improve TSO work flow. “Air traffic is much higher and the technology is improving … but still we can’t ever get rid of the human element.”