I am old enough to remember when your family members could accompany you to the airport and share a meal with you before your flight or wait at the gate with you until you boarded your flight. There is one thing preventing a return to those idyllic times: the TSA.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001. It was designed to consolidate all airline security under federal control and better prevent airplane hijacking. The agency’s mission is to “Protect the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.”
The TSA was initially placed under the control of the Department of Transportation but was transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003. The TSA employs about 60,000 people and has an annual budget of about $12 billion.
The legislation (S.1447) creating the TSA was overwhelmingly supported by both Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by President George W. Bush. Only nine Republicans in the House voted against the formation of the TSA. The legislation (H.R.5005) creating the DHS had bipartisan, but predominately Republican, support. Only ten Republicans in the House joined with a majority of the Democrats to vote against the formation of the DHS. Both pieces of legislation had unanimous Republican support in the Senate.
Before the creation of the TSA, airlines and airports used private security companies to perform security screening at airports. After a surge in airline hijackings, metal detectors were first introduced in airports in 1972. In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated that all passengers and luggage be screened before a flight, and private airport security companies handled the job well.
Most Americans don’t realize that airports are allowed to opt-out of TSA security via the Screening Partnership Program (SPP) and contract with private companies to provide airport security. However, private companies must be approved by the TSA, follow TSA standards and procedures, and submit to TSA oversight. As a result, only about 20 of the nation’s 500 or so commercial airports use private security. Most are small airports, but some are not, like airports in San Francisco, Key West, Rochester, and Kansas City.
Private security has been in the news like never before because of the shortage of TSA Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) that has resulted in long security wait lines at airports across the country. Many TSOs have quit or refused to come to work because the Democrats and Republicans in Congress can’t come to an agreement on funding for the DHS, which shut down on February 12. Private security screeners are paid regardless of the DHS shutdown because their pay comes from a federal contract that is already funded.
There is certainly no reason why airports can’t use private security screeners—like they do in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Spain. Airports already rely on private contractors, local law enforcement, and their own police departments for every aspect of security other than passenger and luggage screening.
Airports and airlines have a tremendous incentive to keep undesirable people and dangerous objects and substances off their flights: the $100 million to $200 million price tag of new airplanes.
There are, of course, other reasons to return airport security to the private sector. It is bad enough that the TSA engages in security theater, but it is even worse when the TSA regularly fails to detect real and mock weapons and explosives at an alarming rate. The TSA hasn’t caught a single terrorist, but over 400 TSA agents have been arrested for theft, drug smuggling, or assault.
Yet, switching to private airport security screeners, although a step in the right direction, is not enough. Even the private airport security screeners need to be privatized.
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 should never have been passed. The federal government has been granted no authority by the Constitution to provide, fund, regulate, or control airport and airline security. This includes the SPP. No private security company should have to be approved by the TSA, follow TSA standards and procedures, or submit to TSA oversight.
But that’s not all. It is not the job of government to provide security for any business in any industry. The federal government has no more authority to provide airport security than it has to provide security at hotels, amusement parks, and convenience stores. It’s time to end all federal government oversight of airport security.
Reprinted with permission from Future of Freedom Foundation.