How can tsa improve

Absent TSA support, similar ventures now are little more than concierge services. This is short sighted. Business flyers and citizens who submit to background checks, together with government employees with security clearances, pose a much lower risk to passenger aviation. If TSA followed a genuine risk-management strategy, this population would receive a lower level of scrutiny than someone flying for the first time. Everyone should be screened, but not everyone has to be checked in the same way.

Given this lower risk, TSA could deploy new technology in Registered Traveler lines and test it under real-world conditions— what the Pentagon calls operational test and evaluation. Under these circumstances, TSA should welcome rigorous GAO audits to identify system weaknesses and make adjustments before making a large-scale investment.

Better technology that allows passengers to keep their shoes on and keep computers in their briefcases would increase system throughput and require fewer TSA employees at each checkpoint. Finally, rather than simply having Registered Traveler lanes terminate at a TSA checkpoint, private companies could manage these checkpoints, subject to rigorous TSA oversight.

The privately run checkpoints could be expanded airport by airport— the ATSA law gives airports that choice—assuming the companies are at least as effective as and probably more efficient than government-run lanes. This would free up TSA manpower that could be deployed to shore up other aviation-related security challenges such as air cargo.

TSA would then have more officials to oversee rail security, another pressing concern. Thinning the passenger air security workforce would also provide DHS greater flexibility to move manpower where it is needed the most, including at seaports or land borders.

DHS has spent its first six years simply getting itself up and running. It is still maturing, but is much more capable than it was in or even Transportation security will always be one of its core missions, but the security environment is dynamic and DHS needs to be resilient if it is to stay ahead of changing threats.

Crowley is a senior fellow and director of homeland security and Lindsey Ross is a researcher at the Center for American Progress. Brian Katulis. DHS rightly preaches risk management. TSA needs to practice what it preaches. Lindsey Ross. You Might Also Like. Durant Imboden, a Minneapolis-based frequent flier who edits a website about travel to Europe, says the TSA should reexamine its rules before overhauling screening practices.

Apparently, the bottom line for passengers is that the TSA should answer a few more fundamental questions before it starts to improve its screening systems with new technology. Are the screening rules effective? Do TSA agents need customer service training? Could the agency benefit from a little more consistency with its screening procedures? Skip to content Home » Commentary » How can airport screening improve in the future? Elliott Advocacy is underwritten by Insuremyrentalcar.

Policies available on a per day, per trip or per year basis. Also works with overseas rentals. Try Insuremyrentalcar. Supreme Court case amid concerns from disability advocates that a ruling in the company's favor could undermine fundamental tenets of the nation's disability rights laws. A state executive order banning public schools from imposing mask mandates cannot be enforced because it violates federal law by putting students with disabilities at greater risk of COVID The U.

E-mail Address:. You're reading of free articles this month. Already a member? Log In.