Transportation Security Administration

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is a U.S. government agency that was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19 2001. The TSA was originally organized in the U.S. Department of Transportation but was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1 2003. The agency's stated goal is to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.

Organization and Background
The TSA is a component of the Department of Homeland Security. With state, local and regional partners, the TSA oversees security for highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, ports, and 450 U.S. airports. However, the main function of TSA is aviation security. As of March 2007, the TSA employs around 43,000 transportation security officers (down from a high of nearly 60,000 in 2003), commonly referred to as "TSOs", formerly referred to as screeners.

A Transportation Security Officer (TSO) is a federal employee who is given several levels of responsibility. Some TSO's check boarding passes and ID's (with a sideline of watching for suspicious behavior, as outlined in the Behavior Detection Officer section), some work at the X-Ray detector, and some screen checked baggage.

A Brief History
TSA was created by the federal government in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Prior to its creation, security screening was operated by private companies which had contracts with either:


 * An airline (in cases where the terminal was owned by an airline)
 * A terminal company (in cases where the terminal was privately owned)
 * An airport operator (in cases where the terminal was operated by a government agency)

With the arrival of the TSA, private screening has not disappeared completely. Under the TSA's Screening Partnership Program (SPP), privately operated checkpoints exist in the following airports: San Francisco International Airport; Kansas City International Airport; Greater Rochester International Airport; Tupelo Regional Airport; Key West International Airport; and Jackson Hole Airport. Private security firms have been approved by the TSA to provide security, but under the authority of the TSA.

The organization was charged with developing policies to ensure the security of U.S. air traffic and other forms of transportation. The TSA says airport security and the prevention of aircraft hijacking are two of its main goals, though it is widely disputed whether the TSA aids in accomplishing these goals and if the TSA is necessary for their accomplishment.

The TSA oversaw the Federal Air Marshal Service until December 1 2003, when the program was officially transferred to the authority of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the U.S. government's 2006 fiscal year, the Federal Air Marshal Program was transferred back to the TSA. The TSA also currently oversees the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, which gives pilots the right to carry guns with them inboard to protect themselves in case of an emergency.

Aviation Security Responsibilities
The TSA is solely responsible for carrying out screenings of passengers and their baggage (both checked and carry-on) at 450 airports across the country.

Confiscated items are available for sale to the public, if not claimed by their owner. TSA is also working to combat baggage theft in many airports. It is working with local and other federal law enforcement agencies. In Las Vegas, a recent sting operation caught two airport employees stealing weapons.

Transportation Security Officers, or "TSOs", are Emergency Personnel of the United States Federal Government and operate in a "Mission Critical" capacity for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They are uniformed federal officers with no arrest powers, and do not carry firearms, OC spray or batons. TSOs are given the power of search and seizure due to language within the 4th Amendment. By purchasing an airline ticket, the person whose name appears on the ticket is consenting to the possibility of random searches of his person and items.

Funding
For the United States Government's fiscal year of 2007 an amount of $4,751,580,000 (4.7 billion) dollars was appropriated for use (specifically for civil aviation security services) by the TSA. This appropriation was proposed in House Resolution 5441 and was signed into public law as Public Law 109-295.

The starting salary for a TSO is $23,836 to 35,754 per year, not including locality pay.

Criticisms
TSA has faced a high level of criticism since its' inception. Criticisms include but are not limited to:


 * Failure of TSA screeners to detect fake bombs brought through security by undercover TSA agents, with detection levels much lower than private security agents on the same tests. In the most recent tests, conducted in 2006, security screeners at LAX failed to identify 75% of fake bombs, while Chicago O'Hare screeners missed 60% of the bomb components. Private screeners in San Francisco missed only 20% of the prospective bomb parts.
 * Invasive screening procedures and mistreatment of passengers
 * Engaging in security theater
 * Frequent theft by TSA employees
 * Lavish spending by TSA on events unrelated to airport security
 * Sales of items collected from passengers
 * TSA employees skipping security checks
 * Wasteful spending in its hiring practices
 * Numerous employees found sleeping on the job
 * Failure to use good judgment and common sense

Covert security test failures
Undercover operations to test the effectiveness of the airport screening processes are routinely carried out by the TSA's internal affairs unit and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's office.

A report by the Inspector General found that TSA officials had collaborated with Covenant Aviation Security at San Francisco International Airport to alert screeners of undercover tests. From August 2003 until May 2004, precise descriptions of the undercover personnel were provided to the screeners. The handing out of descriptions was then stopped, but until January 2005 screeners were still alerted whenever undercover operations were going on.

A report on undercover operations conducted in October 2006 at Newark Liberty International Airport was leaked to the press. The screeners had failed 20 of 22 undercover security tests, missing numerous guns and bombs. The Government Accountability Office had previously pointed to repeated covert test failures by TSA personnel. Revealing the results of covert tests is against TSA policy, and the agency responded by initiating an internal probe to discover the source of the leak.

In July 2007, The Times Union of Albany, New York reported that TSA screeners at Albany International Airport failed multiple covert security tests conducted by the TSA, including the failure to detect a fake bomb.

Hard drive with employee records lost
On May 4, 2007, the Associated Press reported that a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data, and payroll information for about 100,000 employees had been lost from TSA headquarters. Kip Hawley sent a letter to TSA employees alerting them to news of the missing hard drive and apologizing for the loss. The agency stated that it did not know whether the drive was lost or stolen but said that it has asked the FBI to investigate.

Ryan Bird incident
In late September 2006, airline passenger Ryan Bird was detained by an airport law enforcement officer for writing "Kip Hawley is an idiot" on a plastic bag containing his toiletries. Bird wrote the comment to protest the rule the TSA had recently enacted requiring all airline passengers to store any liquid and gel items in their carry-on luggage in clear, plastic baggies. Bird was detained by the TSA for nearly half an hour before being released. His account of the incident on FlyerTalk.com produced 83,000 hits within a couple of days, and the incident made national news.

Lubbock, Texas incident
In March of 2008, Mandi Hamlin was going through the check points at the Lubbock, Texas airport when a Transportation Security Officer stopped her about her nipple piercings. Mandi Hamlin states she was humiliated at the hands of this employee and her 4 colleagues. Mandi was told to step behind a curtain and remove the piercings or she would not be boarding her flight. Miss Hamlin states that while she was distraught, asking for pliers to remove the piercing, she overheard TSA Officers snickering at her. Hamlin, who is represented by Gloria Allred, filed a complaint with TSA.

In a statement released by TSA, the agency stated that its employees followed procedure in this incident. The agency also stated they will be changing the procedures for clearing individuals with unresolved alarms.

Insecure website flaws
In February 2007, Christopher Soghoian, a security researcher and blogger announced that a TSA website was collecting private passenger information in a highly insecure manner. The website was intended to provide a way for passengers to file disputes in the event that they were incorrectly included on the No fly list. Passengers who submitted their information through the website were at risk of identity theft. TSA pulled, fixed and then relaunched the website within days, after the press picked up the story.

In January 2008, The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report on the incident, the result of a one year investigation.

The report stated that the flawed website had operated insecurely for over four months during which over 247 people had submitted personal information using the insecure web-forms. According to the report, the TSA manager responsible for assigning the contract was a high-school friend and former employee of the the owner of the firm that created the website.

The report also noted that "neither Desyne nor the technical lead on the traveler redress Web site have been sanctioned by TSA for their roles in the deployment of an insecure Web site. TSA continues to pay Desyne to host and maintain two major Web-based information systems. TSA has taken no steps to discipline the technical lead, who still holds a senior program management position at TSA."

Behavior Detection Officer
Behavior Detection Officers, or "BDOs" are TSA officers whose primary responsibility is to observe the behavior of passengers going through the security checkpoint. They watch for suspicious actions, such as overly nervous and agitated passengers, and ask them basic questions such as "where are you headed?" or "what is the purpose of your trip?" Sometimes police officers are called in to help ask additional questions and/or do a quick background check of the citizen in question. On April 1, 2008, Behavior Detection Officers successfully identified a passenger at Orlando International Airport, who was acting suspiciously near a ticket counter. After flagging the man for additional screening at the checkpoint, luggage x-ray detector workers discovered pipe bomb-making materials inside his bag.

This program, while somewhat purported as successful by TSA, has came with a lot of controversy. Human rights organizations has flagged this program as a subtle way of profiling and/or smacking of George Orwell's 1984 Thought Police.

Uniform Enhancement
Throughout 2008, the TSA will begin implementing brand-new uniforms, which don a completely different look from the uniforms currently in use. The new uniforms will consist of a royal blue 65/35 polyester/cotton blend duty shirt, dark blue pants, a black tie, a wider black belt, and optional short sleeved shirts and black vests (for seasonal reasons). In addition, there will be a DHS federal badge and engraved nameplate, distinguishing the individual as a Federal Officer. The first airport to introduce the new uniforms will be Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Training is being conducted as the duties and responsibilities of the TSO evolves to the ever-changing agency.

TSA luggage locks
The TSA requires access to air passengers' luggage for security screening in the USA, sometimes without the passenger being present. To allow luggage to be locked for protection against theft, the TSA has approved certain locks, identified by a logo on the locks. TSA personnel can open and relock these locks with tools and information supplied by the lock manufacturers. Luggage locked with other types of lock may be forced open. Various forms of padlock, lockable straps, and luggage with built-in locks are available. Some locks indicate that they have been opened by the TSA.

A number of manufacturers produce TSA-compliant locks. Safe Skies manufactures and distributes their own patented TSA Approved luggage lock. Several firms purchase branding rights to use Travel Sentry mark.. The technology behind the TSA lock is protected by. As of 2007 a patent infringement lawsuit has been filed against Travel Sentry by the patent holder.

Luggage locks references

 * TSA Recognized Baggage Locks
 * The Screening Experience
 * Real protection or extra hassle: Should you lock your luggage?
 * Lawsuit filed Against Travel Sentry