The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) three recommendations regarding security measure implementation and stakeholder involvement in such endeavors.
The GAO report showed that the TSA’s process does not clearly define when or how to involve stakeholders when reviewing directives determining whether to update, cancel, or make them permanent. And there is a void of clarity about how to cancel directives or make requirements within directives permanent.
To that end, the GAO is recommending the TSA better define how to coordinate with air carriers when reviewing directives; document air carrier input; and define a process, including time frames, for canceling or incorporating security measures from directives into security programs.
In light of the TSA Modernization Act including a provision for GAO to examine the review process for directives applied at last point of departure airports, GAO reviewed TSA policies and procedures, analyzed TSA program information and interviewed TSA officials and representatives from a non-generalizable sample of 10 air carriers, selected to represent carriers with high numbers of U.S.-bound flights, and three industry associations.
There were 46 TSA security directives and emergency amendments in effect related to air carrier operations at foreign airports as of March 2019. Twenty-eight directives addressed threats and 18 pertained to vulnerabilities identified at foreign airports.
The GAO said the Department of Homeland Security concurred with each of the recommendations.