Abstract
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 spurred a fundamental change in the thinking, organization, and funding of transportation security in the United States. The most visible organizational change was the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), first as an entity within the Department of Transportation in November 2001, and then as part of the newly-established Department of Homeland Security effective March 2003. The TSA assumed control of many aviation security activities, many of which had previously been provided through private organizations under contract to airports or aviation authorities. While the most visible of these activities was passenger and baggage security screening, the TSA mandate includes air cargo screening, the Federal Air Marshals service, transportation employee background checks, and roles in rail, urban transit, and port and maritime security. However, in the years since its inception, TSA has devoted the overwhelming majority of its resources to commercial aviation and to meeting aviation security statutory requirements imposed by Congress. More recently, the agency has increased efforts at security for rail, transit, and ports.
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Notes
This does not include aviation security expenditures by airlines and airports beyond the September 11th security fee and the Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee. The Air Transport Association estimates these expenditures at between $3.5 and $4 billion annually. See James May, State of the Industry Speech, March 2004, available at http://www.airlines.org/news/speeches/speech_3-25-04.htm.
A GAO report determined that the midpoint estimate of the industry-wide costs for passenger and property screening in 2000 was $448 million. After adjustments for mergers, bankruptcies, and other changes, TSA levied $344 million as the charges to the airlines from this 2000 basis. See the TSA website, http://www.tsa.gov/research/fees/fee_faqs.shtm for additional information.
The amount of offsetting collections can vary from the amounts included in proposed budgets and appropriations, because the volume of activity varies from forecast.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that in 2006 there were 744 million passenger enplanements, traveling 577 billion revenue passenger-miles, and more than 1 billion pieces of checked baggage; in addition, there was approximately 33 billion revenue ton-miles of domestic and international air cargo, comprised of more than 25 billion pounds of goods. See http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/air_carrier_traffic_statistics/.
See Government Accountability Office, DHS Has Made Progress in Securing the Commercial Aviation System, but Key Challenges Remain, Report GAO-08–139T, (Washington: GAO, October 2007).
The National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 required TSA to develop a comprehensive program for air cargo security. The new regulations were finalized by TSA in 2006, requiring use of an industry-wide “known shipper” database, background checks of air cargo workers, and enhanced security measures at facilities. In addition, additional TSA cargo inspectors have been authorized, to be supported by a risk assessment system for targeting inspection activity. See Bart Elias, Air Cargo Security, (Washington: Congressional Research service Report RL 32022, July 30, 2007).
The number of screeners peaked at 60,000 in 2003. This number had been reduced to 43,000 by 2006. In addition, TSA had begun to contract out document checking at some facilities by 2005.
References
Bart Elias, Air Cargo Security, (Washington: Congressional Research Service Report RL 32022, July 30, 2007)
Congressional Budget Office, Federal Funding for Homeland Security, (Washington: CBO, April 30, 2004)
Congressional Budget Office, Federal Funding for Homeland Security: An Update, (Washington: CBO, July 20, 2005)
Congressional Research Service, Homeland Security Department: FY 2008 Appropriations, (Washington: CRS Report RL34004, July 17, 2007)
Department of Homeland Security, National Strategy for Aviation Security, (Washington: Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, March 26, 2007), available at http://www.aci-na.org/docs/nstrategy_asecurity.pdf
Government Accountability Office, DHS Has Made Progress in Securing the Commercial Aviation System, but Key Challenges Remain, Report GAO-08-139T, (Washington: GAO, October 2007)
James May, “State of the Industry,” March 2004, http://www.airlines.org/news/speeches/speech_3-25-04_htm
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Oster, C.V., Strong, J.S. A review of Transportation Security Administration funding 2001–2007. J Transp Secur 1, 37–43 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12198-007-0008-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12198-007-0008-2