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Letter to Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority from Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman, Rep. John Mica (R-Fl.). (Urging 200
major national airports to switch from government DHS, TSA authority to
private security companies.)
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RESPONSE TO CHAIRMAN JOHN MICA from Metropolitan
Washington Airport Authority:
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"The bonuses are pretty handsome," Berry said. "We have to
be good - equal or better than the feds. So we work at it, and we
incentivize."
Some of the nation's biggest airports are responding to recent
public outrage over security screening by weighing whether they
should hire private firms such as Covenant to replace the
Transportation Security Administration. Sixteen airports,
including San Francisco and Kansas City International Airport,
have made the switch since 2002. One Orlando airport has
approved the change but needs to select a contractor, and
several others are seriously considering it.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which
governs Dulles International and Reagan National airports, is
studying the option, spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.
For airports, the change isn't about money. At issue, airport
managers and security experts say, is the unwieldy size and
bureaucracy of the federal aviation security system. Privatefirms may be able to do the job more efficiently and with a
personal touch, they argue.
Airports that choose private screeners must submit the request
to the TSA. There are no specific criteria for approval, but
federal officials can decide whether to grant the request "based
on the airport's record of compliance on security regulations
and requirements." The TSA pays for the cost of the screeningand has the final say on which company gets the contract.
Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), the incoming chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has written to
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200 of the nation's largest airports, urging them to consider
switching to private companies.
The TSA was "never intended to be an army of 67,000
employees," he said.
"If you look at [the TSA's] performance, have they ever stopped
a terrorist? Anyone can get through," Mica said in an interview.
"We've been very lucky, very fortunate. TSA should focus on its
mission: setting up the protocol, adapting to the changing
threats and gathering intelligence."
The debate
The differences between private firms' employees and federal
workers are often imperceptible to the everyday traveler.
Covenant security details use different badges and insignia and
have higher pay for new employees.
Procedures in airport security lines do not change. Thirty
private firms are contracted by the TSA to potentially work as
screeners, and their employees are required by federal law to
undergo the same training, use the same pat-down techniques
and operate the same equipment - such as full-body scanners -
that the TSA does.
With a reduced role, the TSA could become more of a
regulatory agency, leaving much of the daily work on the
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ground to for-profit companies. But federal officials say the
expertise and training offered at the 457 TSA-regulated airports
are unparalleled.
"U.S. aviation security technology and procedures are driven by
the latest intelligence and give us the best chance to detect and
disrupt any potential threat, given the tools currently
available," TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said.
It's unclear whether private screeners cost the TSA more. One
independent report found that private security contracts were 9
to 17 percent higher than the TSA's costs. Mica says thedifference is "concocted."
The TSA also offers performance-based incentives. Employees
who reach the highest performance rating can get a pay raise
and a $2,500 bonus.
Many security and airline industry officials say the switch to a
network of privately run screeners could hinder much of thegovernment's progress since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Robert W. Mann, an industry analyst and former airline
executive based in New York, said airports who are considering
a switch to private screeners are simply responding to
"consumer outrage." Mann says a a better solution is tougher
regulations and training for federal security officers.
"We can't go back to the late '90s when private screeners had
McDonald's-level wages and attention spans to match," Mann
said. "A uniform, tough government system makes a lot of
sense."
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The American Federation of Government Employees, the labor
union for TSA employees, has questioned the privatization of
airport security as well, calling it an ineffective "patchwork
quilt."
Passenger-rights groups' opinions are mixed. Weary of big
business but locked in a long-running fight over federal security
methods, many travelers say they would like to see far-reaching
government reforms and a limited amount of privatization.
"The private security is pretty good and rigid," said Kate
Hanni, who runs Flyers Rights out of Napa, Calif., which countsmore than 30,000 members. "But as long as the scanners and
pat-downs are in place, the experience is going to be the same."
Hanni said trade groups, nonprofit organizations, airports and
federal officials are working to "get on the good side of Mica" as
he becomes chairman of the House transportation committee.
But what the debate over private-vs.-government security mostclearly shows is TSA's customer-service issues, said Paul Light,
a professor of public service at New York University who has
followed the TSA since it was created in 2001. In its early days,
the TSA consulted Marriott International, the Walt Disney Co.
and Intel on ways to speed people through checkpoints and
make fliers happy.
"TSA forgot about customer service," Light said. "The early
executives were worried about smiley faces, wait times. They've
lost sight of that."
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Covenant, based in Mica's home district in northeastern coastal
Florida, has airport screening contracts in Sioux Falls, S.D.,
Tupelo, Miss., and seven small airports in northern and eastern
Montana. Its deal at San Francisco International is by far itslargest. Covenant employs nearly 1,100 people in the bay area,
who make up nearly all of its 1,150 workers. The last four-year
contract, from 2006 to 2010, totaled $314 million. A new
contract has been put out for competitive bids. Meanwhile,
Covenant is operating on a two-month contract ending in
February.
San Francisco airport officials say that they are happy with theCovenant contract and that "by allowing Covenant to worry
about staffing, TSA can focus on the security," airport
spokesman Michael C. McCarron said.
Berry, Covenant's president and a former Marine colonel who
served two tours flying helicopters in Vietnam, has become the
face of the private security movement, extolling the virtues of
private business in fostering better and safer environments ontelevision news programs and before congressional panels.
"We're smaller, we can react much quicker to things and I
think a lot of airports want to be more customer service-
oriented," he said. "There's a reason not one of the 16 airports
that have opted out have gone back to TSA."
Few government or third-party reports have been produced inthe past eight years that compare the performance of private
companies with that of the government in airport security. The
lone outside study, commissioned by the TSA and written by an
Arlington County information technology firm, compared a
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dozen airports and looked at data from 2004 through 2007. It
found that private screeners perform at a level "equal to or
better" than their government counterparts.
The full study's findings have never been released.
Orlando's two commercial airports, Orlando International and
Orlando Sanford International, were bringing in Covenant and
FirstLine last month for presentations on taking over airport
security. Orlando Sanford approved the change to privatization
in October, before the uproar over the TSA's screening methods
even began.Orlando Sanford President Larry Dale said private screening
would be "more enjoyable" for the traveling public and
potentially spur business.
"This country was built on competition, on private investment,"
Dale said, "and I've gotten a lot of complaints from passengers
about the new screening. We're a business after all, and we haveto look out for our customers."
Other airports, including Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World
Airport and Indianapolis International Airport, have said
publicly they are studying whether a change would improve
their bottom line.
The Kansas City airport, which was one of the first tochoose aprivate security operator, said the biggest difference in using
private screeners is the ability to get security issues resolved
quickly.
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"Unlike a government job, these contract employees can be
removed immediately with poor performance, attitude or
unsuitability," said Kansas City airport director Mark VanLoh.
"It shows in our passenger surveys for customer satisfactioneach year."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123005225_3.html?
hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010123005248
By Derek KravitzWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 31, 2010; 12:00 AM
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Related story of interest
• Auditors question TSA's use of and spending on technology
• Are airport X-ray machines catching more than naked images?
• Air traffic controllers made record number of mistakes in 2010, data show
• Covenant memo on the Screening Partnership Program (pdf)
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Covenant memo on the Screening Partnership Program
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