Those who believe a large federal screening force is the answer to aviation security are fooling themselves.
Two years ago, Congress created the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA). A force of 55,000 federal employees was hired to conduct screening functions at airports. However, five airports have employed private screeners under federal supervision as part of a demonstration project.
Next year, all airports will have the option of using private screeners, though the federal government will be responsible for policy, standards, audits and background checks. With what we know now, they would be well advised to do so.
Private screeners were made the scapegoats for the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy. Actually, the federal government was at fault for failing to set standards and enact rules that could have prevented the hijackings. On Sept. 11, no federal rules were in place to stop hijackers from carrying box cutters or plastic knives onto aircraft, nor were there uniform standards for private screeners.
During the past two years, the federal government has spent billions of dollars and hired tens of thousands of screeners with impressive uniforms and badges. Most of this has proved to be a mirage. Nat Heatwole, “box-cutter boy,” publicly demonstrated that when he repeatedly brought box cutters and dangerous materials aboard several planes to dramatize security lapses. The TSA failed to detect the items even with advance warnings.
Recent testing by the General Accounting Office and the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general confirm what Heatwole, a 20-year-old college student, made public: An army of federal screeners, in fact, is not that effective.
There is no reason to believe that federal workers will make aviation more secure than federally supervised private employees. If there were, we would have federal workers flying and maintaining airplanes. Instead, pilots and airline mechanics are private employees performing well under federal supervision.
With proper regulation and oversight, private screeners have proved to be at least as effective if not better than federal screeners. At a minimum, they will be deployed more efficiently and in a more cost-effective way. Then, references to the TSA as “Thousands Standing Around” will be history.
Finally, we must stop relying on 1950s X-ray passenger-screening equipment that keeps us at risk. Even an army of 200,000 screeners — public or private — never will be able to detect some weapons, dangerous materials and explosives. Our top priority should be to work with the private sector to develop and deploy the next generation of screening technology to better protect the flying public and our aviation industry.
Rep. John L. Mica, R-Fla., is chairman of the House Transportation Committee’s aviation subcommittee.