One year ago, explosive devices were discovered in air cargo from Yemen headed to Detroit. That attack was stopped. But international flights continue to be a difficult area to secure and members of Congress say they’re concerned that gaps remain.
A report released last month by the Government Accountability Office found that while the Transportation Security Administration has made improvements, there’s still a lot of work ahead.
The GAO suggested the TSA develop a system that can better identify foreign airports for risk assessment. Currently, the agency doesn’t have standard criteria for its assessors.
“From intelligence and information sharing to advance passenger and cargo screening methods we must continue to work closely with our international partners to strengthen international security,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-AL, in his opening statement as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittee on transportation security.
Approximately 80 million people and 10 billion pounds of cargo enter the United States aboard an international flight each year. These passengers and goods come from about 300 airports in 100 countries, according to the GAO.
The TSA’s methods of evaluating foreign airports is based on a United Nations organization, ICAO. And, while TSA breaks down airports into tier-1 for low risk, tier-2 for medium risk and tier-3 for high risk, there are no criteria to distinguish between the three.
There’s also no comprehensive spreadsheet to compare risks and data from previous years, the GAO reported. The current spreadsheet does not give TSA officials an opportunity to explain why an airport failed to meet security standards. As a result, subsequent TSA assessors must go back and look up the full report for context, defeating the point of automating the system.
Meanwhile, some countries don’t have money to buy screening equipment prescribed by the U.S.
“One critical gap that I intend to pursue through legislation is TSA’s lack of authority to donate screening equipment to countries that cannot afford to purchase their own,” Rogers said. “Weak security standards is one link of the global aviation chain could have catastrophic consequences.”
Tier-3 airports are supposed to be evaluated every three years, tier-2 every two years and tier-1 each year, the GAO stated. But agency representatives still have to be allowed in by the host government for their assessments — and some still keep the United States out.
For example, Venezuela refuses to let U.S. assessors in, even though it has four airports that have direct flights to the United States.
The U.S. government has warned American travelers that those airports may not be safe. Recently, a TSA representative flew to the South American country to try and open a dialogue again, a TSA official told the GAO.
John Halinski, assistant administrator of global strategies for the TSA, testified before the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security in April that in the previous 18 months, its inspectors conducted 185 assessments at airports, 1,149 assessments at air carrier stations and 290 cargo stations.
“In addition, TSA continues to coordinate with our sister components at DHS, as well as other relevant agencies, such as the Department of State and the Federal Aviation Administration, to further enhance the inter-agency process and communication,” Halinski said.
But the GAO found that the TSA’s system is sloppy – it doesn’t have controls in place to track whether assessments were actually occurring on schedule.
Since the GAO examined TSA in 2007, the time it takes TSA officials to write reports has been reduced to 20 days, down from 38.
The TSA also has created 25 international inspector positions and 15 have been filled. The GAO reported that the TSA plans to fill the other 10 positions by the end of this year.
Additionally, TSA created the Aviation Security Sustainable International Standards Team (ASSIT) in 2008. So far it works with St. Lucia, Haiti, Georgia, Liberia and Palau. It also signed a working arrangement with the European Union to make it easier for assessments to be completed.
“We will continue to work to effectively address the needs of partner nations to build sustainable aviation security practices through capacity development,” Halinski said.
“TSA will continue to support capacity development efforts and work to establish the ASSIST Program as an international model for capacity development while also exporting the program to more locations to expand its reach and provide technical assistance to additional governments.”
