Government Report on U.S. Aviation Warns of Security Holes

WASHINGTON - "Despite a huge investment in security, the American aviation system remains vulnerable to attack by Al Qaeda and other jihadist terrorist groups, with noncommercial planes and helicopters offering terrorists particularly tempting targets, a confidential government report concludes.

"Intelligence indicates that Al Qaeda may have discussed plans to hijack chartered planes, helicopters and other general aviation aircraft for attacks because they are less well-guarded than commercial airliners, according to a previously undisclosed 24-page special assessment on aviation security by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security two weeks ago.

"But commercial airliners are also 'likely to remain a target and a platform for terrorists,' the report says, and members of Al Qaeda appear determined to study and test new American security measures to 'uncover weaknesses.'"

in the n.y. times

Waldorf, Md.: I've heard that the government has to either give you the promotion for the job your doing if its more than ninety day or return you to the positions you've been hired for. Is there any guidelines or informations that can help me addresss this concern.

Stephen Barr: Tough question. Congress gave TSA permission to create its own personnel rules, and TSA will be exempt from the new DHS personnel system. Your best option is to do some research at this OPM website (www.opm.gov/classapp/index.asp)and see if you can find material that addresses your circumstances. If that doesn't work, you may want to check with a lawyer who has experience in federal employment procedures. Best of luck!
in the washington post

A Commonplace Case Complicated by Fame

ATLANTA - "On what he considered to be an unusually slow afternoon at a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport security checkpoint last October, security screener Alvin Spencer passed the time by placing his watch on the X-ray belt he was monitoring.

"'Curiosity got the best of me, I guess,' said Spencer, a federal employee of the Transportation Security Administration, 'and I put my watch on the X-ray machine, just to see what it would look like.'

"A few moments later, the watch was gone. It would find its way into the hands of NFL quarterback Michael Vick, one of the league's biggest stars.

"It took six days for Spencer to get the watch back. The tale of its disappearance would involve charges of a police cover-up and the allegation of a $20,000 extortion attempt and pits the TSA against the Atlanta Police Department."
in the washington post

Yo, investors...

"On Tuesday, March 15, MAPPS members and agency officials will participate in agency liaison committees, where small groups discuss issues related to the relationship between key agencies and the private sector. These include NGA, DHS, NOAA, DoD, USGS, and FAA/TSA. The luncheon speaker will be Congressman Robert Andrews (D-NJ), who was a leader in the enactment of legislation last year that established a Geospatial Management Office in the Department of Homeland Security. In the afternoon, MAPPS is hosting a symposium on 'Emergency Response: Developing a Strategy for Geospatial Deployment'. Visit the association’s website at www.mapps.org."
in gis user.com

Frequent fliers' priority-line perk may soon lose value

"Business travelers who've been enjoying quick jaunts to the front of airport security lines via 'preferred customer' lanes may soon find it a slower trip.

"Orlando International Airport announced plans for a 'Known Traveler' program recently, and that could mean just about anyone willing to undergo a background check will get access to priority lines now reserved for frequent fliers and business-class travelers.

"Combine Orlando with the government's 'Registered Traveler' program, and airlines' own efforts to please valued customers with priority lanes, and the question is: Who will be left waiting in the regular line?"
in investors.com

Rants & Raves
02:00 AM Mar. 12, 2005 PT
Date: 03/11/2005 06:55 AM
From: tom ob (tom@tobmkc.com)
Subject: Bad Data Fouls Background Checks

I am trying to get myself off a TSA watch list ("Bad Data Fouls Background Checks," March 11, 2005). Talk about bad data. And this is how weak the system is: I am on a TSA watch list -- but only Northwest Airlines picks it up. United and others do not. (Most likely a missing middle initial, or having an apostrophe in my name -- or not -- is what triggers the match/no match situation.)

Because I am on the list, I can't use electronic check-in terminal and I must see a live agent (the only one left at O'Hare). The agent has to make a 20-minute phone call to somebody and then finally prints out my boarding pass.

To get off the list, I have to send a certified copy of my birth certificate, drivers license and passport to the TSA. How great does that feel -- sending your entire identity to an agency with 50,000 employees? Identity theft, anyone?
in wired.com

Jackson sworn in as homeland sec. deputy

"Michael P. Jackson, who worked to secure U.S. transportation systems after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, was sworn in Friday as deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

"Jackson helped set up the Transportation Security Administration at the Transportation Department where he was deputy secretary from 2001 to 2003. TSA has since been moved to Homeland Security."
in the san francisco chronicle

Biden chides Bush not doing enough on rail security

"In the year since terrorists bombed commuter trains in Madrid, the Bush administration 'has done next to nothing to protect passenger rails,' Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, said at a press conference March 10.

"The White House budget proposal for the Homeland Security Department for fiscal 2006 sets aside just $32 million for rail security. However, David Stone, chief of the department’s Transportation Security Administration, said in a congressional hearing March 3 that the line item is adequate, because additional grant money is flowing to state and local governments that can be used, in part, for securing mass transit systems.

"Republicans have raised concerns about protecting rails from terrorists as well.

"'Given the Madrid bombings and recent actions to limit hazmat cargo shipments in the District of Columbia, I would think TSA would have increased its budget for rail security, not decreased it,' Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, said at the March 3 hearing."
in washington technology.com

Boeing completes airport security contract with TSA

"The Boeing Co. completed its contract with the Transportation Security Administration on an airport security program, it said Friday. ...
"The [$200 million] contract is a continuation of one the company received in April 2002 to install and maintain explosives detection systems at 429 U.S. airports. Boeing has already installed more than 1,100 explosives detection systems, more than 6,000 explosives trace detection systems at 400 airports and trained more than 25,000 baggage screeners for the Transportation Security Administration."
in the st. louis business journal

Miami airport to speed bag screening with automated system

"A painful part of air travel, lugging suitcases from the check-in counter to the baggage screening area, will be eliminated at some of Miami International Airport's concourses by next year, saving passengers time and hassle. ...

"The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday said it would direct $20 million for "in-line" baggage screening systems at the two MIA terminals. MIA will contribute an additional $103 million, airport spokesman Greg Chin said."
in the miami herald

Airport and agency dispute funding sources

"Friedman Memorial Airport finds itself engulfed in the same dilemma as other local public agencies around the country: being ordered by the U.S. government to adopt a program and then being short-changed on funding."
in the idaho mountain express

Pilots' union grades TSA

The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations grades 13 areas of security. They are, from best to worse (comments reflect group's statements):

Screening bags: "B." Baggage screening has improved, but some scanners still don't detect explosives.

Cockpit doors: "B." The reinforced doors work, but are not mandated on cargo or foreign carriers.

Federal air marshals: "C." Air marshals do a good job, but there are too few, and they cover a limited number of flights. The exact number of air marshals is classified.

Crew training in classroom: "C." Security training varies widely from airline to airline, and there is no program for cargo crews.

Perimeter security: "D." There is a lack of Transportation Security Administration oversight, and security is inconsistent from airport to airport.

Threat intelligence: "D." Few airlines share crucial threat updates with their pilots.

Pilots with Guns (on passenger planes): "D." The Federal Flight Deck Officer program, which trains pilots to carry handguns while in the cockpit, has "poor operational policies" that limit participation. There is only one facility that trains the pilots. The Coalition of Airline Pilots Association also opposes a requirement that dead-heading pilots -- pilots traveling as passengers -- keep their weapons in locked boxes in the plane's cargo area.

Pilots with guns (on cargo aircraft): "D." The Federal Flight Deck Officer program for cargo pilots has just started, and numbers are limited.

Screening passengers and employees: "C/F." There is little explosives screening for passengers, and employees are not screened.

Screening cargo: "F." The near-total reliance on a "known shipper" program is a serious flaw. "We don't care who the shipper is, we want to know what's in the box," Safley said.

Credentialing: "F." Available biometric identification technology has yet to be deployed by the TSA.

Crew training -- self-defense: "F." Vital hands-on training is not mandatory, and thus neglected.

Missile defense: "F." Shoulder-fired missiles are a serious threat even though countermeasures do exist.
in cnn.com

Airport may scale down expansion

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — "Huntsville may have to slow its proposed International Airport expansion. The new proposal puts a hold on a planned $26 million baggage screening station, the project's highest priced endeavor. The Transportation Security Administration was initially supposed to pay for the majority of this.
"'If they will pay, we'll do it,' Cindy Maloney, airport public relations manager, said. 'However, since TSA is still working on large airports, they haven't gotten to airports our size. They are paying for renovations in other airports. We recommended waiting to make sure the funds will be there.'"
in the decatur daily

Bill Would Ban Gun Sales to Terror Watch List

WASHINGTON - "A House Democrat introduced legislation on Wednesday to ban terror suspects on the 'No Fly List' from buying weapons, a day after a government report showed that at least 47 had been able to legally purchase firearms."
in reuters.com

Airport search baffles traveler from Indonesia

"An Indonesian man detained at Columbia Regional Airport while security agents searched his bag for what they thought were explosives in a cake he carried raised the possibility this morning that he was targeted for his ethnicity."
in the columbia daily tribune

Hawaii airports get $ for EDS

HONOLULU — "Airports on the Big Island and Kauai will be receiving a total of $9.5 million from the federal government to expand their ability to screen luggage for explosive devices, U.S. Rep. Ed Case said Tuesday."
in usa today

Fake-bomb test wasn't authorized, report says

It was the most embarrassing in a series of security breaches at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Screeners conducting a security drill lost track of their own fake bomb, allowing it to make its way onto a flight to Amsterdam, where it was finally located and retrieved the following day amid international media attention.

Now a federal internal affairs report has concluded that the security staff involved in the Dec. 14 incident was poorly trained for the exercise, improperly supervised and, in fact, not authorized to conduct fake bomb tests in the first place.
in the newark star-ledger

How much should security cost passengers?

"A Bush administration proposal to increase security fees on airline tickets could cost Northwest Airlines up to $150 million a year, CEO Doug Steenland said.
"'This is an issue of national defense, and it shouldn't be borne by just one segment of the population,' Steenland said in an interview. ...
"U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., disagrees. When terrorists used commercial aircraft to crash into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the planes were just a means to an end to attack the United States, he said. 'Aviation security is not an airline matter, but a national security matter,' Oberstar said. ...
"'A disproportionate amount of the increase is likely to be absorbed by the airlines rather than the consumer,' said Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg in a February report."
in the minneapolis star-tribune

Airlines, passengers find fees a nuisance

"The Transportation Security Administration is notorious for its inability to stop dangerous items from getting through checkpoints. Less well known is that in forming its crack security team, TSA spent an absurd $12,000 per recruit. With 60,000 new airport screeners hired, TSA squandered an estimated $720 million of taxpayers' money just on recruiting."
opinion piece in the atlanta journal-constitution

Data broker hires TSA official to improve customer screening

ATLANTA - "Data broker ChoicePoint Inc., whose massive consumer information file was recently breached, said Tuesday it has hired a top official at the government agency that oversees airport screening to review how the company screens its customers."
in the miami herald

Security clearances

Some great insight on government jobs as well as upcoming job fairs in the DC, northern va area
in the washington post

Private screening firms may get some liability protection

"The Homeland Security Department would like to give private aviation-screening companies limited liability protection if screeners fail to prevent a terrorist attack. ...

" When Congress created TSA after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks it created the federalized screening force but allowed five airports to contract with private screeners. Under that law, other airports last November also could request permission from TSA to opt out of the federal program, but Stone told the committee only one out of more than 400 airports have chosen to do so.

"The airports and companies would like to receive protection under the so-called SAFETY Act, which limits liability for companies if their products or services fail to prevent terrorist attacks. 'I'm told by some airports and companies that they're waiting to see how that falls out before they make a determination,' Stone said during testimony before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. ...

"Stone told lawmakers that if an airport is approved by TSA to opt out of the federal program, then the agency provides the same level of funding that the airport receives for the federal program to pay for the private screeners."
in govexec.com

TSA gives BWI $10 million for in-line baggage EDS

"Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. announced today that the TSA has allocated $10 million to offset the costs of a new, state-of-the-art, in-line baggage screening system at Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). The in-line explosives detection system (in-line EDS) is being installed in the Airport's new Terminal A/B facility, which is scheduled to open this spring."
in a us newswire press release

The Homeland Security To-Do List

"Almost 3½ years after 9/11, the government has made only spotty progress in securing air travel, the greatest source of daily anxiety to a mobile public and, according to David Stone, the new Transportation Security Administration chief, the arena still at greatest risk of terrorist attack."
opinion piece in the la times

Ground This Security System

A passenger screener at Dulles writes to the newspaper about selectee screening:

"Slowing the screening would be a wise investment of time if it improved security, but bad guys know not to buy one-way tickets or pay with cash, so what is gained by closer examination of passengers who simply needed a one-way ticket or didn't want to pay by credit card?"
in the washington post

Comparing TSA's tactics to El-Al's

"As the government continues to try to make air travel safer ... former Israeli intelligence agents and security gurus have set up shop in the United States, peddling strategies that have worked for decades in a country under near-constant threat.

"Some say Israeli interrogation tactics would never work in America. For one thing, the U.S. air fleet is 227 times the size of El-Al and could never withstand the delays. Others say Americans would not stomach Israeli methods, that profiling and random questioning conflict with U.S. civil liberties."
in the times argus

Passengers are first line of defense in the skies

"In my view, the lines of people shedding their coats and shoes and braving the metal detectors have a much more important symbolic value. They tell potential terrorists that, as far as air travel is concerned, the world has changed for them."
in the cincinnati post

Security search of cargo bay delays Newark flight to China

"Federal security officials at Newark Liberty International Airport yesterday scoured the cargo hold of a Continental Airlines plane bound for Hong Kong because of a security threat received the day before, an official said."
in the star-ledger

Enhanced passenger background checks to begin in August

WASHINGTON, DC — "The government will begin enhanced computerized background checks on some airline passengers in August, the head of the Transportation Security Administration announced Thursday."
in usa today

TSA reveiwing, may release security report

WASHINGTON, DC - "The Transportation Security Administration is looking at a new report on its failures to decide whether it can be released to the public."
in newkerala.com

House lawmaker grills TSA chief over fielding airport screening technology

"A powerful House lawmaker grilled the chief of the Transportation Security Administration at a hearing Thursday over the slow pace of developing and fielding new screening technology for the nation's airports."
in govexec.com

U.S. airlines ready to battle higher security fee

CHICAGO - "A White House proposal to collect another $1.5 billion in aviation security fees has roiled cash-strapped U.S. airlines, who brand the move unfair taxation at a time they can least afford it.

"The Transportation Security Administration hopes to raise $1.5 billion from the increase. The total borne by airlines and their passengers would increase to $4.1 billion annually and nearly cover costs for 45,000 passenger and bag screeners."
in cnn.com

Fixing the no fly list

WASHINGTON, DC - "To a chorus of guarded skepticism from lawmakers and privacy advocates, the Department of Homeland Security this week unveiled its $847 million plan for a single office to oversee some of the more than one dozen programs it runs to vet people and cargo against terrorist watch lists."
in the united press international

Siemens wins $47 million TSA maintenance contract

Siemens will provide maintenance for most of TSA's screening equipment, including metal detectors, X- ray machines, and Explosives Trace Detectors (ETDs) at the nation's 450 commercial airports. The contract is valued at $46.9 million through September 30, 2005, with four one-year options. Siemens will be responsible for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance for over 12,000 pieces of equipment.
a u.s. newswire press release

Federal screeners cite pressure to forgo training, falsify forms

ATLANTA - "Some federal screeners at the Atlanta airport say they're under such pressure to avert long lines at security checkpoints that they are not getting the training mandated by the Transportation Security Administration."
in the atlanta journal constitution

Biometrics biz talks about the Registered Traveler Program

Looking to invest in biometrics? One such company, International Biometric Group has a monthly teleconference series on Thursday, March 10 at 1:00 pm ET (10:00 am PT). You can sign up for the teleconference @ www.biometricgroup.com/webconferences.html. This company is a gov't contractor specializing in biometrics.

Gulfport-Biloxi one of three to test new EDS

GULFPORT - "Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport is one of three airports nationwide that will test a new technology to detect explosives in baggage.

"The airport in the next 30 to 90 days will receive and install the Reveal CT-80 Explosive Detection System made by Reveal Imaging Technologies of Bedford, Mass. The device was certified by the Transportation Security Administration in December."
in the sun herald

Airport screeners say they're not getting enough training

ATLANTA - "Some federal security screeners at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport say pressure to avoid long lines at security checkpoints has led to them not getting the required amount of training."
in the columbus ledger-enquirer