(The following article by Bryon Okada and Gordon Dickson appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on March 23.)
FORT WORTH — The Transportation Security Administration has had a mandate to protect U.S. airports, highways, rails and pipelines from terrorists, but almost all of its attention and money has gone to aviation.
State and local authorities and transportation industries have had to patch together security improvements for other crucial systems, but some remain vulnerable, experts say.
That has triggered criticism that the TSA didn’t hire the right people, didn’t control its spending and bungled its planning. But much of the funding required for the TSA to secure the nation’s vast networks of transportation hasn’t come. Congress limited its hiring. Detailed congressional orders beyond air security haven’t been given.
TSA officials aren’t sure what resources it would take to do their job.
“Nobody has even bothered to calculate it,” TSA spokesman Ed Martelle said. “We’re in the process of taking over some programs, like maritime security grants. It’s not necessarily in flux. It’s in development.”
War was not a TSA deadline. But as combat escalates in Iraq, preparedness for a possible terrorist attack is once again a national priority. Transportation systems have historically been the favored target of terrorists. One-third of all recent terrorist attacks worldwide have focused on air and surface transportation, a recent General Accounting Office report said.
TSA officials acknowledge that the fledgling agency’s focus through Dec. 31, 2002, has been almost exclusively on aviation.
The TSA poured its $6 billion and most of its manpower into meeting two congressional deadlines: federalizing airport screeners by November 2002 and screening all bags with bomb-detection machines by December 2002.
Congress did not set deadlines for security improvements for any other mode of transportation, Martelle said.
Greyhound and charter buses carry 774 million people each year — more than the airlines and Amtrak combined. But until two months ago, they were largely off the TSA’s radar.
“We have not had that voice at the table,” said Peter Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association. “It’s just now that they’re beginning to look at motor coach security from a funding perspective.”
The TSA got off to a rocky start as it inherited an ineffective security system previously handled by the Federal Aviation Administration. Congress created the TSA in November 2001. By spring 2002, the agency still had only a handful of employees.
Consulting companies hired by the TSA had aviation backgrounds. The agency’s hierarchy was initially made up largely of military and law enforcement officials, but criticism prompted it to add a larger percentage of aviation officials.
The TSA’s much-maligned first chief, John Magaw, resigned after Congress cut the agency’s budget because its programs lacked focus.
Cost overruns have been a constant point of criticism by the aviation industry, by Congress and by Kenneth Mead, the inspector general of the TSA’s former boss — the Department of Transportation.
In February, Mead publicly rebuked TSA Administrator James Loy for the agency’s poor spending protocols and reckless oversight of contracts with private companies. The TSA built up a $3.3 billion deficit in its first year. One example cited by Mead was that hiring airport screeners cost $700 million, seven times the original cost.
That prompted Loy to tell Congress that airlines must contribute more money to help the agency pay for its operations, a request that produced howls of protest from the cash-strapped airlines.
Another GAO report in February said private companies grossly overcharged the TSA for passenger-screening services.
The TSA faces other challenges to fulfill its mission.
Congress recently lifted its cap on how many employees the agency can have. But the GAO emphasized in January as the TSA moved to the Department of Homeland Security that attracting and keeping quality employees could be daunting. That’s because salaries will be lower for future employees to save money, and large numbers will be needed to serve all modes of transportation.
Funding will remain an issue. The $2.50 airline passenger security fee that is a permanent source of revenue for the TSA covers less than one-third of its expenses.
Cost aside, Congress has generally supported the TSA and believes it should take over security for other modes of transportation, where private companies and government agencies that lack anti-terrorism expertise have had to go it alone.
Analysts say the TSA should concentrate on four general transportation areas:
— Information and security systems to guard U.S. seaways. A TSA responsibility, seaway security was largely delegated to the U.S. Coast Guard.
— Lists of trusted shippers. The lists would allow trusted shippers to operate without restriction even when ports and inland facilities (such as Alliance Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport) are on heightened alerts. Federal customs officials, not the TSA, have worked to coordinate shipments with foreign ports and have handled inspections. An air cargo security bill pending in the Senate contains a provision for generating a list of trusted shippers.
— A national transportation identification system. Such a system would pre-screen passengers rather than relying on searches at terminals and ticket counters.
Transportation workers and travelers would carry a card, which would be much like a driver’s license. The card would be accepted by all federal, state and private authorities.
The TSA never received funding to create a transportation employee card, which was to be a precursor of the registered-traveler program. A computer-assisted passenger pre-screening system is being tested by Delta Air Lines at selected facilities. Some groups have raised civil-rights concerns regarding the scoring method for assessing who is a threat and who isn’t.
“It’s still on the books, but it’s in line behind the employee program, and since lines have diminished so much at the airports, there’s nothing driving the need to separate travelers,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
— Regional response centers that would offer transportation companies a direct link to the Department of Homeland Security. Most industries have established response centers, usually in conjunction with the military or another agency. But the centers often lack an anti-terrorism focus and do not offer training and information-sharing services with local agencies and the private sector.
Efforts to protect transportation should be concentrated on those areas where a small-scale attack could produce a wide or long-lasting impact, one RAND Corp. analysis says.
“Three sectors of infrastructure that may be particularly vulnerable to control-center attacks are oil pipelines, air transportation systems and railroads, because the associated computer control systems are concentrated in a small number of critical nodes or facilities,” the analysis says.
In the Metroplex, security has been increased along bridges used by the Trinity Railway Express commuter line, key rail lines and switching towers, and at aviation buildings near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. In each case, local entities or companies, not the TSA, paid for and coordinated the additional security.
“To honor the letter and spirit of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, we want to move quickly with the other modes,” Martelle said. “At present, we also don’t have very large budget appropriations for those modes. We’d have to go back to Congress and say, ‘Hey folks, can we have money to do this?’ ”
Security challenges
AVIATION
Done: The Transportation Security Administration met a January 2002 deadline for screening all baggage by using a combination of passenger-bag matching, machine screening, bomb-sniffing dogs and manual searches.
Done: Federal passenger screeners were in place at the 429 U.S. commercial airports by the November 2002 deadline.
Done: With Congress exempting major airports from its deadline, the TSA met a December 2002 mandate to screen check-in baggage with large bomb-detection machines.
Not done: The largest airports must reconfigure terminals to add space for baggage screening. Federal reimbursements for airports are still being worked out.
MARITIME
Done: Some federal maritime security grants have been made available through the TSA.
Done: The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection handles foreign port manifests and radioactive-material screening.
Not done: The U.S. Coast Guard is still providing much of the security that was part of the TSA’s original mandate.
LAND TRAVEL
Highway
Not done: Major facilities are monitored by various federal, state and local law enforcement, not the TSA. Local authorities are still in charge of monitoring roads, tunnels and bridges.
Not done: Regional operation centers have been established by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Not done: Municipalities handle emergency preparedness plans, with a focus on natural disasters.
Rail
Done: Amtrak received $100 million in federal defense funding last year, but not through the TSA. Most of the money is concentrated on the East Coast.
Not done: Individual railroads inspect their rail lines for sabotage at their own expense. They also defend their systems against computer-based attacks.
Bus
Done: The TSA made available $25 million in grants to upgrade security and $99 million could be added this year.
Not done: Passenger screening is minimal, random and conducted by private companies.
PIPELINE
Not done: Pipeline operators are responsible for increased patrols of sensitive oil and gas pipelines when notified of a threat through an informal agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation.