The Transportation Security Administration must find a way to pay for incorporating explosive-detection equipment into the baggage handling systems of the nation's airports, a move that would increase efficiency and save the federal government at least $1 billion over seven years, experts told a Senate panel yesterday.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress enacted an aviation security law that required all checked baggage to be screened for explosives. To meet this mandate, the TSA, which was charged under the law with managing the screening program, placed explosive-detection system, or EDS, machines and explosive-trace detection, or ETD, machines in airports across the country.
However, "many of those machines have been placed in airport ticketing lobbies without an integrated plan to take maximum advantage of [the machine's screening capacity] and alarm reconciliation capabilities," Gregory O. Principato, president of Airports Council International-North America, told the Senate Commerce Committee. "The result, too often, is crowded airport lobbies, major backups at security screening checkpoints, and an unnecessarily large number of TSA personnel necessary to operate the equipment."
Incorporating the equipment into the baggage handling systems at the nation's airports would yield a substantial savings to the federal government because fewer people would be needed to operate the EDS machine, according to Cathleen A. Berrick, director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office.
"In May 2004, TSA conducted a retrospective cost-benefit analysis on nine airports with agreements to install in-line screening systems and found that significant savings and other benefits, including reduced screener staffing requirements and increased baggage throughput, may be achieved through the installation of in-line systems," she told the panel. "TSA estimated that in-line baggage screening systems at these nine airports would save the federal government about $1 billion over seven years, compared with stand-alone EDS systems, and that initial investment would be recovered in a little over one year."
But in order to carry out a national plan to incorporate EDS equipment, Congress would have to provide between $3 billion and $5 billion, according to Principato.
This year, Congress provided $295 million to the TSA for in-line EDS installation. The White House requested $344 million for EDS installation by the TSA in 2007, but $187 million of that figure would go to existing funding commitments and not new projects, Principato said.
In order to try to meet the funding challenge, the TSA is currently conducting a study of financing options, according to TSA assistant secretary Kip Hawley, who also testified before the committee.
Some experts believe that bond financing would likely be one of the funding alternatives included in the study. However, the TSA did not provide any details of the study. According to a TSA spokesman the agency is "looking at all financing options." The report will likely be presented to Congress this summer.
Another possible solution would be for Congress to pass legislation that would require that the security fee tacked on to airfares be deposited into a trust fund dedicated to security, according to panel chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. This would remove any temptation to use the revenue for other purposes, which is a concern of his.
