Copyright 2002 FDCHeMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Federal Document Clearing House Congressional
Testimony
February 6, 2002 Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2222 words
COMMITTEE:HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
HEADLINE: SUBJECT
TESTIMONY-BY: JOHN MAGAW, UNDER SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
BODY: Statement of
John Magaw Under Secretary of Transportation for Security
before the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation
House of Representatives
February 6, 2002
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to appear before you today and wish to thank the Committee
for calling this hearing on a matter of critical importance to the
Nation-ensuring the security of air travel across the United States and
implementing the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.
On behalf of Secretary Mineta, I want to assure Congress that the
Department of Transportation is making and will continue to make every effort to
fulfill each and every deadline contained in the statute enacted on
November 19 last year. Your leadership in passing the Aviation and
Transportation Security Act-creating the Transportation Security
Administration-means that Americans will continue to exercise their right to
travel free from the fear of terrorist violence.
As you
know, the President has appointed me to take on the challenging task of
establishing TSA and carrying out the mandates of the Act. I wish to thank the
Senate for confirming my nomination. I am honored to work with Secretary Mineta,
Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey and the rest of
the senior management team at DOT to accomplish this important task.
In just a few months, TSA will have hired tens of
thousands of new employees to screen passengers and baggage at 429 airports
nationwide. We will have put in place additional employee background screening
tools in the aviation industry. With our public and private sector partners, we
will strengthen every mode of transportation based upon comprehensive security
assessments.
As part of that effort, Secretary Mineta
announced recently that, beginning last month, TSA is working with the State of
Maryland to use Baltimore-Washington International Airport as a site to study
airport security operations, test TSA deployment techniques and technology, and
begin to train senior managers for TSA.
My testimony
today will address two topics: first, meeting the baggage-screening and other
deadlines established by the Act, and second, developing TSA into a
functioning agency as rapidly as posse.
1.
Deadlines in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act
From the date of enactment, the Secretary has focused our efforts
intensively on complying with or exceeding the deadlines established in
the new law. As Secretary Mineta has stated, we consider the law's tight
deadlines as promises made to the American people, and we will do
everything humanly possible to keep these promises. Secretary Mineta has given
those of us in DOT a simple mandate with regard to these deadlines: let's
figure out how to meet them, because they are not negotiable.
To date, our efforts have been successful.
As
you know, we met the "30 day" deadlines--action on Enhanced Class B
airspace, qualifications for future screeners, a report on general aviation
security, and claims procedures for reimbursement of direct security-related
costs for airport operators and certain vendors.
January 18 marked the "60 day" deadline for action. Among the
60- day deadlines, the requirement for 100% screening of checked baggage
was the most important and the most challenging. While security considerations
prevent us from discussing details of the comprehensive baggage-checking
measures in a public forum, let me say that the approach contemplated in the
Act--employing a combination of explosive detection equipment and alternative
techniques as set forth in that provision by Congress--has been adopted.
We are continuing to work with the airlines to take the
necessary action to meet the bag-checking requirement, using the full menu of
options provided for in the law. Passengers, airline staff, and current
screeners have already experienced changes as a result. We will have
overlapping, mutually reinforcing layers of security, some of which are visible,
like screening stations, while others remain unseen, like intelligence,
undercover work and state-of-the-art technology tools.
Explosive detection equipment is a vital part of our baggage- checking
program. Every available explosive detection machine will be used to its maximum
capacity. Where we do not yet have such equipment in place, we will use other
options outlined in the law. On originating flights, checked baggage will be
matched to passengers on board. Computers will screen passengers, and passengers
will be screened for weapons-often multiple times. In addition, more bags will
also be subject to sniffing by trained dogs, to more comprehensive screening by
both explosive-detection and explosive trace detection devices, to manual
searches, or to a combination of those techniques.
We
will work to meet the requirement that each checked bag be screened by explosive
detection equipment by the end of this year. Working with a team of consultants,
we are looking at a wide variety of innovative approaches using technology,
different ways to run the check-in process, and procurement strategies that can
get us to that goal.
September 11 taught us that our
enemies are willing to die to attack us, and that means that we must
successfully screen all baggage and cargo on a passenger flight, not just
succeed at matching bags to passengers. Screening all baggage and cargo through
detection technology is therefore among one of our highest priorities.
In addition to the bag screening requirement, there are
several other 60-day deadlines that we met:
-
FAA issued its guidelines for flight crews who face threats onboard an
aircraft.
- Air carriers began to electronically
transmit foreign airline passenger manifests.
- We
released our screener training plan, which was written with input from leading
government and private sector training experts.
We also
issued the necessary guidance to implement the new September 11$2.50 Passenger
Security Fee on airline tickets sold on or after February 1, which will help
finance TSA operations.
As you can tell, FAA
Administrator Jane Garvey and I already have combined the efforts of TSA and FAA
Civil Aviation Security staffs to implement our new program of initiatives to
meet the 30- and 60day deadlines. Let me say at this point, from my
perspective, that it is the contribution of our team of dedicated employees that
has been the most important factor in our success to date. We also appreciate
the input of the Nations airports, air carriers and aviation industry trade
associations; their cooperation was an important factor in our efforts to
successfully meet these deadlines.
In concluding
this portion of my testimony, I would like to mention the other future
deadlines on which we are most focused. On February 17, just a few days
from today, TSA will take over the aviation screening
responsibility that has been the airlines' up until now by assuming the airline
screening contracts and equipment that provide passenger screening at the
Nation's airports. We will implement the charter air carrier security program
mandated by Congress. Most significantly, we will also begin to staff TSA with
sufficient Federal screeners and other personnel to be able to certify to
Congress on November 19 of this year that we have complied with section 110(c)
of the Act to carry out all passenger screening with Federal personnel.
This brings me to the second topic, bringing TSA on
line.
2. Making the Transportation Security
Administration a Functioning Agency
The new TSA is
foremost a security agency. We will use all the tools at our
disposal--intelligence, regulation, enforcement, inspection, screening and
education of carriers, passengers and shippers. I have worked to assemble a
seasoned group of managers to assist me in creating the headquarters and field
organization and fully staffing it within 10 months. The process itself entails
consultation and participation by many outside groups- airlines, airport
executives, labor unions, screening companies, airport vendors, airplane and
security equipment manufacturers, trade associations and experts of many
sorts.
To jumpstart work on critical tasks, we created
"Go-Teams," to work intensively on specific tasks, present decision options, and
then disband. Some of these have successfully completed their tasks and moved
on. At present, we have some 36 Go-Teams launched and operating. They cover a
thousand details small and large-from what uniforms the TSA security force will
wear, to the procurement, installation and maintenance of explosive detection
equipment for 429 airports. In addition, we have teams developing detailed
strategies to protect not only passengers, cargo, and people working in and
moving through airports, but also physical assets such as aircraft and terminal
facilities.
Funding and staffing up this enterprise are
enormous challenges. We rely on the FAA Civil Aviation Security organization,
which is being incorporated into TSA, the Secretary's Office of Intelligence and
Security, and detailees from throughout the Department to undertake the many
procurement, personnel, and provisioning challenges we face. The Secretary has
formed a DOT Management Committee that makes assignments, tracks progress, and
reports to him on the accomplishment of discrete projects. This process has
accounted for our ability to meet the Act's deadlines and to produce the
highest quality results.
A great deal of coordination
within the Executive Branch is necessary to bring staff and resources online in
an expedited manner, and I plan to place heavy reliance on the new
Transportation Security Oversight Board composed of cabinet Secretaries and
representatives of intelligence and national security groups, in particular the
Office of Homeland Security. Unprecedented cooperation by these entities and the
Office of Management and Budget on funding issues has already assisted us
greatly.
The President's 2003 budget for TSA requests
$4.8 billion, an increase of $3.6 billion above the level of funds provided
directly to TSA in fiscal year 2002 and $2.5 billion above the amounts
appropriated to both TSA and the Federal Aviation Administration. The $4.8
billion would be funded through a combination of direct appropriations,
offsetting collections in the form of the passenger security fee of $2.50 and an
airline charge. The total for the offsetting collections is estimated to be $2.2
billion. Resource information for the Federal Air Marshal program can be
provided in a classified document or briefing.
TSA's
budget has been presented to Congress in a service-oriented manner, rather than
by expense type (i.e. operating expense, capital costs, and research). These
broad service areas are security operations, law enforcement, intelligence, and
security regulation and enforcement, and include headquarters and field
resources with administrative, support and management personnel.
We are creating a flat organizational structure at TSA that emphasizes
front-line service delivery with well-trained managers and is supported with an
array of services deployed from Washington.
One key to
our success at airports nationwide will be a core of senior managers, the
Federal Security Directors. These FSDs are the strong front-line managers, who
will bring federal authority directly to the point of service, the airport. I
expect to select the first FSDs shortly.
Another key to
the success of our efforts will be baggage screeners. We are designing a
compensation and benefit structure that will help attract the highest quality
employees while also developing a fair process that allows us to quickly remove
those who neglect their work. Screeners will receive compensation that is
substantially higher than what screeners generally now receive and also full
Federal benefits, including health insurance and leave and retirement programs.
We believe that this compensation and benefit package will have a positive
effect on screener retention rates and effectiveness. In addition, we will
create a career path and provide other job enhancements for the screener
workforce. In December of last year, we announced the qualifications for the new
screeners. As required by the Act, these new screeners must meet strict
requirements before they are hired and must successfully complete a rigorous
training program and pass an exam before they can be deployed.
The TSA is charged with security for all modes of transportation, and a
focus on aviation must not slow the TSA's pace in addressing the security needs
of other transportation modes. Across every mode, we must continue to develop
measures to increase the protection of critical transportation assets,
addressing freight as well as passenger transportation. We will maintain a
commitment to measure performance relentlessly, building a security organization
that provides world-class security, and world-class customer service, to those
who travel.
The new security system will be robust and
redundant, and we will be relentless in our search for improvements. It is
better today than yesterday; and it will be better still tomorrow.
This concludes my statement. I will be glad to answer any
questions.
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