Despite claims by the Obama Administration that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) budget couldn’t afford sequestration cuts without reducing personnel—thus causing longer wait times at airports—the agency had no qualms about adding a $50 million contract for new uniforms the week before the spending cuts officially began. On February 27, …
President Obama claims that unless Congress raises taxes to undo the imminent automatic budget cuts as sequestration, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would be forced to reduce security measures, leaving travelers and the airways vulnerable and increasing wait times at airports. Is there really not a dime that could be …
Last week, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee released a report outlining what they believe the consequences of sequestration will be if it goes into effect. Following its release, Homeland Security Today published an article highlighting the report’s findings on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) specifically. In short, the …
Yesterday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the state of the Transportation Security Administration 11 years after 9/11. Appearing before the committee, my colleague James Jay Carafano explained: It is certainly fitting that we pause to reflect on the state of transportation security on the anniversary of …
Over Thanksgiving weekend of 2006, airport screeners in Toronto began meticulously searching every carry-on bag by hand. The delays caused security lines to pile up. Passengers began missing their flights en masse. To break the bottleneck, supervisors allowed 250,000 passengers to board their flights with “minimal or no screening.” One …
Late last week, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials announced that they had preliminarily approved Sacramento International Airport to begin moving forward with privatizing their screening workforce. The move is part of TSA’s Security Partnership Program (SPP), the nearly eight-year-old program allowing U.S. airports to opt out of federal screening and …
Tomorrow, the House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on “TSA’s Efforts to Fix Its Poor Customer Service Reputation and Become a Leaner, Smarter Agency.” In describing the hearing, chairman Mike Rogers (R–AL) wrote: Through years of high profile mistakes and poor public communications, TSA [the Transportation Security …
Want to cut government spending? Without compromising security? The Ryan budget is a good start, but we can do more. How about rethinking the Transportation Security Administration? We need TSA. After all, terrorists continue to target commercial aviation in the U.S. But, do we really need a massive, bloated bureaucracy and …
Members of Congress have said it before, and they are saying it again: It’s time for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow new members into the Security Partnership Program (SPP), the nearly eight-year-old program allowing U.S. airports to opt out of federal screening and instead privatize their security forces. …
Congress is at it again. Earlier this month, Representatives Bennie Thompson (D–MS), Edward Markey (D–MA), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D–TX), sent a letter to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) demanding to know how the agency planned to meet the congressional mandate requiring the 100 percent screening of air cargo. This …
