Before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, airports used private contractors for security screening. After 9/11, Congress created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to handle security screening at the United States’ 440 airports.
In 2002, Congress also opened a voluntary program that allowed airports to hire private security, which was eventually offered to all airports. The original five were the San Francisco International Airport, the Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, the Greater Rochester International Airport in New York, the Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming and the Tupelo Regional Airport in Mississippi. Today, 22 airports use private contractors, according to the Washington Post.
The TSA has made the switch to private security difficult because they oversee the selection process when airports request private contractors. According to the Washington Post, the selection process takes a long time, though requests are rarely turned down. If the airport is allowed to make the switch to private security, the TSA selects the firm and manages the pay and contracts. The company chosen cannot cost more than if the TSA were to remain as the screening agency.
Though private contractors must follow the same rules and use the same procedures as TSA workers, they have more freedom when it comes to staffing the checkpoints. The workers from private security wear different uniforms but follow the same training and receive similar pay and benefits as TSA workers.
After the recent government shutdown, many people are beginning to question if private contractors may be a better choice to handle security screening than TSA workers. According to the Washington Post, up to 10 percent of TSA workers did not show up for their shifts during the shutdown, which caused many problems at airports nationwide.
For example, airports in Baltimore, Houston and Miami were forced to close checkpoints due to a lack of staff. However, operations at the 22 airports with private security were normal.
Some security officials, such as David Inserra, a policy analyst for homeland security at the Heritage Foundation, report that private contractors are better suited to handle screenings at airports, especially during traffic surges.
Others such as Greg Regan, secretary-treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, argue that federal agencies should handle security screening because the years before 9/11 saw low workplace morale and high turnover in private contractors.
Expert Corner:
Ambassador John B. Craig, Ambassador-in-Residence at the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking
Ambassador John B. Craig is currently an Ambassador-in-Residence at the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking (CGUP) and served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism under President George W. Bush. He said that 9/11 was a major event that affected the 400-plus airports in the United States. He explained that it affected the way that security checks were handled because of the volume of traffic moving through them, and that creating the TSA was a huge project.
“At the time, there was no control over the people that the contractors were using,” Craig said. “Some of the workers weren’t even U.S. citizens, which bothered a lot of people.”
Craig said that now, airport security workers, whether staffed through private contractors or the TSA, must have a high school diploma and must be a citizen of the United States. This raised the level of screeners, Craig stated.
Because of the TSA supervising the private security firms airports use, people often assume that the standards are the same between the two agencies.
“I fly a lot, and I see that the standards are slipping,” Craig stated. “Even so, it’s a sign of the times that the TSA would agree to that many airports using private contractors.”
Even though Craig mentioned that he believes the level of security at airport checkpoints is slipping, he does not have a strong opinion yet of whether the increasing use of private contractors is good, bad or beneficial in any way.
In regards to the recent government shutdown, Craig said that it would not influence more airports to hire private security.
“The shutdown was an aberration, but it will not have a lasting influence on something like this because you can’t anticipate it,” Craig stated. “We’re trying to make sure it won’t happen again.”
Craig stressed that security measures cannot revert to pre-9/11 standards because the security was lax, and the threat of plane hijacking and terrorist attacks is a real problem. He said that not only is it important to sufficiently staff the checkpoints, but also that it is important to establish the security of the ground control personnel to ensure the security of a flight.
“The conversion to hiring private contractors is still a work in progress,” Craig said. “It’s very recent, and who knows if it will have a big impact on the future of airport security?”
“Jay Talk”
Student Quotes from Around Campus
“It’s hard to say whether or not this recent shutdown will affect airport security. Though it seems the TSA has been effective, the government shutdown really hurt the TSA workers since they weren’t being paid. There were threats of another shutdown, too, so maybe private contractors will come back to airport screening.”
~ Emma Frennborn, sophomore
“Private contractors also stopped being paid during the shutdown, and many did not receive back pay. TSA employees do receive back pay. Switching to private contractors would not solve the problem at hand, and may make it worse. If you have opinions about switching to private contractors for separate reasons, that is a discussion we can have, but in this case the suggested remedy doesn’t address the relevant symptom.”
~ Anonymous
