Aviation Security Transportation Security Admin Has Strengthened Planning To Guide Investments In Key Aviation Security Programs But Work Remains

The Transportation Security Admin. (TSA) funding for aviation security has totaled about $26 billion since FY 2004. This testimony focuses on TSA¿s efforts to secure the commercial aviation system through passenger screening, air cargo, and watch-list matching programs, and challenges remaining in these areas. This testimony also addresses TSA¿s progress in developing the Secure Flight program, based on work conducted from Aug. 2007 to Jan. 2008. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.

Since its inception, the Transportation Security Admin. (TSA) has focused much of its efforts on aviation security, and has developed and implemented a variety of programs and procedures to secure commercial aviation. More recently, TSA has taken actions to secure the nation's surface transportation modes. TSA funding for aviation security has totaled about $26 billion since FY 2004, and for surface transportation security activities, about $175 million since FY 2005. This testimony focuses on TSA¿s efforts to secure the commercial aviation system -- through passenger screening, air cargo, and watch-list matching programs -- and the nation's surface transportation modes. It also addresses challenges remaining in these areas. Ill.

The Transport. Security Admin¿s. (TSA) mission is to protect the nation¿s transport. network. Since its inception in 2001, TSA has developed and implemented a variety of programs and procedures to secure commercial aviation and surface modes of transport. Other DHS components, fed. agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector also play a role in transport. security. Previous reports have examined: (1) the progress TSA and other DHS components have made in securing the nation¿s aviation and surface transport. systems, and the challenges that remain; and (2) crosscutting issues that have impeded TSA¿s efforts in strengthening security. This testimony concerns the security of the nation¿s aviation and surface transport. systems.

The response of the U.S. federal government to the events of September 11, 2001 has reflected the challenge of striking a balance between implementing security measures to deter terrorist attacks while at the same time limiting disruption to air commerce. Airport and Aviation Security: U.S. Policy and Strategy in the Age of Global Terrorism is a co

Since its inception in Nov. 2001, the Transportation Security Admin. (TSA) has focused much of its efforts on aviation security, and has developed and implemented a variety of programs and procedures to secure the commercial aviation system. TSA funding for aviation security has totaled about $26 billion since FY 2004. This Congressional testimony focuses on TSA¿s efforts to secure the commercial aviation system through passenger screening, strengthening air cargo security, and watch-list matching programs, as well as challenges that remain. It also addresses crosscutting issues that have impeded TSA¿s efforts in strengthening security. Includes recommendations. Illustrations.

This book examines terrorism's impact on the international aviation security regime, with a focus on the role of the United States. Tracing the historical development of the international civil aviation system, the volume examines how it has dealt with the evolving security environment caused by international terrorism. It begins by exploring the practical implications of the debates over the meaning of 'terrorism' and how the international civil aviation community developed practical solutions to avoid the debilitating debates over the concept while crafting important, if weak, international conventions. As a major civil aviation power, the United States was a predominant influence in security developments in the 1960s and 1970s, yet US civil aviation policy failed to keep pace with the changing nature of the terrorist threat. The commanding position that the United States maintains in international civil aviation provides a microcosm of the promise and perils faced by the world's sole superpower. The author examines US efforts to upgrade civil aviation security in the wake of 9/11 and the impacts of these developments on the international civil aviation system. The detailed discussion of terrorism past and present places the threat in its proper context for both the international civil aviation community and its largest individual actor, the United States. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism, aviation security, international security and IR in general. John Harrison is an Assistant Professor at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Head of Terrorism Research at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.