Aviation Security - The Role of TSA

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TSA LEVELS OF SECURITY 


The Transportation Safety Adminiatration (TSA)

 faces one of the most challenging jobs in the nation, their main duty is to screen all passenger and personnel with a variety of security measures and training initiatives, including threat recognition and security management. These strategies focus on individual threats and its main purpose is to mitigate, reduce and stop an imminent threat. However, security still a concern, all protocols are establish and TSA continues to fight and prevent vulnerabilities (TSA, 2019). 


Threat recognition is a challenge the agency faces

daily, unfortunately the is not an immediate solution for everything, a collaborative process for threat recognition performs a test which consists on undercover agents that try to find the techniques used by terrorists, they attempt to pass threat objects through passengers and  baggage screening systems, and access secure airport areas. The specifics of these tests we consider sensitive in nature but, the study found many vulnerabilities in the TSA screening due poor screening process, lack of equipment, not following standard practices (GAO, 2020) 

These findings woke up the attention of TSA at

airports with the likelihood of a terrorist attack and changes were implemented, these changes were considered classified but, is clear that improvement have been made, including the integration of technology and better screening processes. 

Not long time ago a TSA security breach occurred

 at New York JFK airport, it was the middle of the day when the incident occurred. The TSA agents were in the process of opening a new line due to the amount of passengers, at that time one passenger walked thru an unsupervised metal detector, it set the alarm and continued to walk without secondary screening. Two supervisors were aware of the incident within minutes however, it was not reported immediately until two hours later when a third supervisor reviewed the security camera and the passenger have already reached the boarding gate. 


When the agents began their search through the

entire terminal they could not find the passenger who had already boarded and it was not until San Francisco when TSA finally was able to screen the passenger. This example shows how vulnerable a security system could be if not managed correctly, experts suggest the most vulnerable time of any kind of checkpoint at TSA is during the transitions periods and is the most weakest early in the morning and during shift changes. The incident mentions above occurred at 06:00 a.m. 

The fact it occurred after new implementation

 security protocols and procedures is scary, it is important to follow procedures at those transition points to ensure the integrity of the system and security. 


References,


Transportation Security Administration. (2019, June 

25). identifying, Resolving and Preventing Vulnerabilities in TSA’s Operations. https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/testimony/2019/06/25/identifying-resolving-and-preventing-vulnerabilities-tsas-security


Government Accountability Office. (2020, 








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