Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing On TSA Oversight 20240713

Good evening, verne. Welcome. We will now come to order. Like to start off by welcoming mr. Dan bush some of North Carolina to the committee. Thank you, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Delighted to be with you. Look forward to meeting with you, sir. Subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on one year later the implementation of the tsa modernization act. And without objection, the chairs authorized to declare the subcommittee in recess at any point. I want to thank you, Ranking Member lesco, and our distinguished witnesses for joining us today. One year ago this month, congress enacted the First Comprehensive reauthorization of the tsa known as the tsa modernization act. The act incorporated substantial number of bills and provisions that originated in this committee. It stands as a testament to the committees longstanding bipartisan efforts to conduct oversight of tsa. And i thank my colleagues, ms. Watsoncoleman and mr. Catko for their leadership in advancing legislation last congress that im glad to carry on those efforts with Ranking Member lesko in this congress. Tsa modernization act enhances and improves our nations transportation security. The act is too comprehensive to describe in detail in a few minutes that we have, but id like to highlight a few key points. First, the act established a fiveyear term for this tsa administrator to provide stability to the agencys leadership. And sadly, the current chaos and leadership vacancies within dhs have undermined those efforts. Add strait er has been forced t wear two hats acting as both tsa administrator and dhs deputy secretary. I commend the administrator for answering the call to duty, but the role of tsa administrator is a fulltime job that requires fulltime dedication to ensuring the security of our transportation system. I hope the president will nominate permanent leaders to fill many of the dhs vacancies and thus provide tsa with a stable leadership that congress envisioned when it passied this legislation. In addition to establishing the administra administrators term, the tsa modernization act first pushes tsa to enhance its Strategic Planning efforts, number two, secures public areas of airport and Service Transportation systems, and improves the security of air cargo transportation. And we appreciate tsas dedication to implementing the many directives and reporting requirements in this legislation as well as tsas transparency in updating the committee on its progress. And although tsa has made significant progress on implementing the act, im still concerned that tsa has not yet complied with the provisions that pent soresent some of the committees biggest priority in this act. First, tsa is late in providing this committee a report on recommendations to reform its Personnel Management system. And as you know, the subcommittee recently highlighted issues facing the tsa workforce at its hearing in may. Transportation Security Officers serve on the front lines, our nations transportation system, yet are among the lowestpaid workers in the federal government. Theyre also not afforded some of the base, workplace protections that most other Government Employees enjoy. Improving working conditions for these officers is key to tsas evolution as a professional National Security agency and i look forward to hearing more about the status of this important report. And im going to ask at this point unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the American Federation of Government Employees. Second, tsas substantially late in providing a strategy that was due in february regarding plans to open procurement process to a Wider Network of Technology Companies including participation of Small Businesses. Tsa relies on the small number of vendors today to provide many of the screening technologies in use at airports nationwide. And as you know, small busine businesses, in particular, face difficulties in competing for tsa awards due to limited procurement cycles, high costs of certification, and lengthy testing and evaluations processes. I look forward to hearing what steps tsa is taking to ensure these processes are open and fair to all. And finally, tsa is overdue in providing an assessment of potential enhancements to surface transportation security. As you know, mass transit and other Service Transportation systems are particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks and its important that tsa prioritize completion of these requirements. Tsa must work to come into full compliance with the requirements that a tsa modernization act as soon as possible. And once again, id like to thank tsa and the gao for being here today and i look forward to our conversationenin, and with , id like to turn this conversation over to the Ranking Member, lesko, for an opening statement. Ms. Lesko. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i want to welcome as well representative dan bishop from North Carolina. Welcome. This is a great committee. Youre going to enjoy it. Very important. I want to thank the witnesses for being here and the tsa officers and other employees that are here from tsa and dhs. Thanks for being here and participating. I am pleased that the subcommittee is meeting today to oversee implementation of last years bipartisan reauthorization of the transportation security administration, the tsa modernization act. Terrorists, of course, continue to target both service and Aviation Transportation in ways that are constantly evolving. The tsa modernization act recognizes this reality and provides direction to the agency at a critical time. Importantly, this legislation marks the first ever reauthorization of tsa since the agency was created in 2001 following the terror attacks of september 11th. In so doing, Congress Fulfilled its constitutional role to provide oversight, accountability, and direction to the federal government and the resources appropriated to protect the traveling public. The tsa modernization act took measurable steps to update many offices and programs within tsa and make the agency more prepared for current and evolving threats to transportation security. Some of these provisions included the establishment of a fiveyear term for the tsa administrator. Authorizing the use of thirdparty explosive detection k9s for passenger and cargo screening. Providing Additional Resources and support to the federal flight deck officer program. Ou objectives for tsa precheck. Now, a little more than one year after enactment, it is prudent for our subcommittee to echo the bicameral bipartisanship that facilitated the passage of this landmark legislation as we examine how effectively tsa has worked to implement the law. I commend add the administrator who is currently serving doubly as the acting deputy secretary of the department of Homeland Security for working closely with congress on this legislation last year and for his teams dedication to providing regular briefings to the relevant committees on implementation status. This work, along with congressional oversight, has resulted in 87 of the laws required ar ed actions for tsa successfully completed or on track for successful completion in a timely manner. Gao serves as the committees watchdog on implementation in its review of tsa programs, offices and security mitigation efforts. So i am pleased that they are represented here today as well. I look forward to hearing from tsa and gao today on the status of outstanding provisions in the law as well as what the agency has accomplished over the last year in fulfilling its statutory requirements. Thank you, and i yield back the balance of my time, mr. Chairman. Lesko. Other members of the subcommittee are reminded under the committee rules, Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. And i want to welcome the panel of witnesses. Our first witness, ms. Patricia cogswell, acting deputy administrator for tsa. Prior to joining tsa, ms. Cogswell held several leadership bosses within the u. S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement and dhs including as acting undersecretary for dhs intelligence and analysis. Our next witness, mr. William roswell, is a director at the Government Accountability office, gaos Homeland Security and justice team, where hes responsible for leading gaos work on aviation and surface transportation security. Mr. Russell has over 17 years of experience at gao and was previously an assistant director in gaos contracting and National Security acquisitions team. Without objection, the witness full statements will be inserted in the record, and now i ask each witnesses to summarize their statements for five minutes beginning with ms. Cogswell. Welcome, maam. Good morning, chairman correia, Ranking Member lesko. On behalf of tsas employees i want to express our appreciation for the continued support of congress, the productive relationship we have with this subcommittee, and as well with the Government Accountability office as well as the authorities provided by the tsa modernization act of 2018. Implementing the tsa modernization act is a priority for tsa. I am grateful for the invitation to testify about our efforts to execute these authorities. Since its creation following the september 11th attacks, tsas n ongoing commitment to ensuring transportation security has enabled public and commerce to continue traveling securely and freely. 18 years later the reality is that Transportation Systems remain highly valued targets for terrorists and their methods of attack are more decentralized and opportunistic than ever. Tsa must meet the challenge of a pervasive and constantly evolving threat environment in both the cyber and physical realms. In meeting this challenge, tsas most important asset is its people. Im very proud of the 63,000 dedicated professionals who make up our workforce and every day demonstrate our core values of integrity, respect, and commitment. Together, the efforts of our workforce secures and facilitates transportation for an average of 85 million passengers, 2. 56 billion in cargo and critical transportation infrastructure around the country. Earlier this year, a significant portion of our workforce went without pay for 35 days during the partial government shutdown. Despite suffering financial and personal hardships, they demonstrate ed to professionali and commitment to transportation security. Were grateful to congress to continuing to explore ways to prevent this from happening again and stand ready to help you in achieving this goal. 2018 was a very important year for tsa and its direction. Not only did we release our strategy and administrators intent, highlighting Strategic Priorities of improving security and safeguarding the transportation system, accelerating action and committing to our people, but the tsa modernization act became law. The first reauthorization of our agency. 2019 has been the year of implementation. We have conveyed through eight progress meetings with this subcommittees staff that as of today, tsa has implemented more than 60 of the 180 requirements mandated by the act, and 72 of those with specific deadlines. Completed requirements include conducting a global Aviation Security review, creating an air cargo division, establishing a surface transportation security Advisory Committee, initiating a Pilot Program to test Ct Technology for air cargo, executing an automated exit lane technology Pilot Program in phoenix mesa airport. Additionally, consistent with the tsa modernization act requirements to grow tsa precheck enrollment and limit the use of precheck lanes to those with known traveler numbers, we successfully conducted two pilots. Both ensuring the feasibility and throughput for tsa use of precheckonly lanes as well as the future lane experience model where nonprecheck passengers designated as lower risk would receive alternative screening procedures. Continuing to evaluate risk and assessing technology, policy and proceed kbrdures in place to ad that risk is critical to our mission execution. Recent examples of where we have done so consistent with the modernization act include updating the federal air marshal concept of Service Concept of operation to prioritized Mission Deployment strategy, focused on highrisk travelers and revised sfwhaeshl ri interfashl Ri International Risk Assessment models. Im incluei including an Advisory Committee, subcommittee on Insider Threat to assess ways to improve airport worker controls. Building on this critical work, tsa plans to produce a roadmap for mitigating insider risk in all modes of transportation. Tsa also recognizes our strategic success defends on our workforce. Tsa commissioned a Blue Ribbon Panel of public and private sector Human Capital experts to review tsas Human Capital policy and policy processes and reestablished our National Advisory council which is comprised of adviser from our uniformed workforce. Through recommendations from these groups and others, tsa developed a number of workforce initiatives that we are now implementing. Such as our twotier performance system, our model officer Recognition Program and tso career progression. Chairman correia, Ranking Member lesko and members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today. Tsa is grateful for the authorities provided through the modernization act and is committed to implementing them as quickly as possible. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, ms. Cogswell. Id like to recognize mr. Will russell to summarize his statement in five minutes. Sir . Good morning, chairman correa, Ranking Member lesko and members of the subcommittee, im pleased to be here today to discuss tsa progress to implement the tsa modernization act. As you know, the act included provisions intended to, among other things, improve Aviation Security, screening technologies, oversight of passenger screening processes, and surface transportation. The act also included a number of provisions for gao to review tsas progress. This statement summarizes past work and observations from some of our on going work in assessig tsas actions for selected areas. Overall, tsa has made progress consistent with provisions under the act but can improve in a number of areas. First, in terms of international Aviation Security, tsa took steps to strengthen assessments of foreign airport operators. For example, since our december 2017 report, tsa further enhanced its foreign airport assessments by capturing better data on vulnerabilities so they can be effectively mitigated. In addition, the act included a provide for gao to review security directives for airpor s in Foreign Countries that offer last point of departure flights to the u. S. Tsa may revise or issue new security directives for domestic air carriers and emergency amendments for foreign air carriers when threat information or vulnerabilities at foreign airports indicate an immediate need for air carriers to implement additional security measures. In our review of this process, we found tsa did not fully define how to coordinate with industry representatives prior to updating directives which can lead to some difficulties in implementing needed changes. Tsa had also not yet fully determined whether to cancel our incorporate many longstanding security directives into air carrier security programs in full accordance with tsa policy. We made several recommendations to address these issues and tsa concurred with them. Modernization act also included provisions related to oversight of passenger screening rules. Tsa developed screening rules by considering current intelligence and other factors to identify passengers who may require enhanced screening. In our forthcoming report, we found that oversight of this process has improved. Tsa coordinates rule reviews through quarterly meetings and notifies an expanded set of dhs and tsa stakeholders of rule changes as called for under the act. We also found that while tsa tracks some data related to rule implementation, it does not comprehensively measure rule effectiveness. We recommended that tsa explore Additional Data sources for better measuring the effectiveness of these rules. Tsa is currently reviewing this recommendation. In terms of screening technologies, we reviewed the process used by tsa to deploy those technologies to airports and in our forthcoming report, we found that tsa considers risks in its deployment decisions but has not fully documented them. Importantly, we also found that after screening technologies have been deployed to airports, tsa does not fully ensure that these technologies continue to meet detection requirements even though performance of that technology can degrade over time. We made several recommendations to address these issues and tsa is currently reviewing them. Per the act, we also reviewed tsa pipeline security efforts. We found that tsas management of key aspects of this pipeline security can be improved, although coordination with pipeline operators is good. For example, tsa needs to better evaluate the number of staff and resources that it devotes to pipeline security and to include a strategic workforce plan that can help it effectively identify the skills and competencies such as cybersecurity expertise necessary to carry out responsibilities. Tsa concurred with those recommendations to address the issues and has efforts under way. In conclusion, tsa has taken important steps to improve security and response at the modernization act, but additional actions will be needed going forward. And we will continue to review tsa progress to implement these remaining portions of the act. Chairman correa, Ranking Member lesko, this concludes my prepared remarks. I look forward to your questions. Mr. Russell, thank you very much. You have a minute left. Thank you. I thank all the wrnss for your testimony. Ill remind each member that he or she will have five minutes to ask questions of our panelists and now id like to recognize myself for the first set of questions. First one is for ms. Cogswell. As you know, part of the tsa act, congress codified a fiveyear term for the administrator of tsa. The current administrator is wearing two hats. One as the administrator and the other as acting secretary. And given dual roles and duties, whos running the daytoday operations at tsa . Sir, thank you very much for your question. As part of his redesignation and position as the senior official performing the duties of the deputy secretary, he has authorized me to run most of the daytoday operations for tsa. Through that process, i have a series of areas where i consult with him on a regular basis to ensure consistency with his direction and approach. Thank you. How do you decide which issues are delegated to him versus you . And how has that affected the implementation of the act . The they we have been approaching this process is through longstanding close collaboration. As you might expect, i talked to him multiple times a week. I look for any issues that i believe are particularly sensitive or timeconsuming nature to ensure that there is no instance where he would be caught off guard. Given the concerns that we have, and im sure youre doing a great job, do we need a stable leadership at the top of the agency, should these vacancies be filled . It is incredibly important for tsa to have stable leadership over extended period of time. I think it is one of the best parts of the act was creating that goal and that mindset. I know the administratoor share that goal. I know he very much is a believer in this role and this position and would very much like to be able to see out the remainder of his term. At the same time, we recognize the importance of continuity across the department of Homeland Security. And i can think of no one Better Qualified to be able to serve in this type of position. And as you know, Homeland Security is such a Critical Role defending our citizens. Not only here but around the world. And so we want to be of as much help as possible. Making sure youre able to implement your mission. Turning to another issue, which is workforce issues, as you know, the subcommittee has focused on the issues affecting the workforce. Affected the wor section 1507 of the act, the tsa convened a workforce labor and submit to congress a report containing recommendations to reform tsas Personnel Management system. What is the status of that report . Sir, the working group has formed and had many productive discussions and down to and including we extended the period of time because the discussions were so productive they had more to include and they completed the deliberations in the end of august and the report is now in clearance. When will you expect that . I hope that it will be in a matter of weeks. Matter of weeks. Thank you. The statute also says that the working group should consider reforms for the tsa Personnel Management system including appeals to the merit system protection board and grievances procedures. Were those topics considered by the working group . Specifically the group highly focused around grievances. Thank you very much. Madam chair id like to turn over i now yield and id like to recognize the Ranking Member, the gentlewoman thank you and you also have a minute left and were really buzzing by here. This is great. I get a second round. Oh, okay. Ill have a question for both of you in the gaos initial report from the tsa modernization act, the review found that tsa does not ensure that screening technologies continue to meet detection requirements after they have been deployed to airports. In this review the ga oreck mended that tsa implement a process to ensure a process after deployment and that tsa is currently reviewing this recommendation, so my first question is for mr. Russell. Can you expand on this a little bit more so were putting new technologies like say, ct scanners and were not checking up on them to see if theyre still working. Is that what youre saying . Right. What we found is for the field screening technologies that think about the body scanners and other pieces of equipment, theres an initialer is the if i kagsz process when they complete the procurement process to ensure, run it through all its paces and it does meet the requirements as expected and then it gets deployed at airports. So what we found is usually on a daily basis, most airports have a calibration kit that they run through the equipment that checks various diagnostics so that the equipment is working properly, but that check does not include ensuring that the actual detection of an explosive or other prohibitive items is operating at the same level as when it left, say, the factory and thats certification testing. Thats what were getting at. So, mr. Russell, is that done, this detection, would it it normally be done by people just trying to sneak things through . Is that what it would be or are you saying after hours, or how do you test it . So thats where we had the recommendation that we think tsa should devise a process for how you periodically check that the equipment once fielded is, in fact, still operating at that high Detection Level when it left the certification process. Okay. Thank you. And ms. Cogswell, in relation to that, what can ts ado better . Do you have any ideas how you can do this . I went to that area where you were testing the different technologies and that type of thing. So how would you do a better job at this . How would you test somebody . Would you do surprise checks with undercover people . What are you thinking . Thank you, maam. And we do appreciate your visit and would offer any of your colleagues if they would like to come see it aswell, wed be happy to have you out. This item is still under review and were still putting together our official response and i think youve highlighted one of the most important pieces is ensuring that the plan that we come up with will meet gaos interest while recognizing and we already do testing today as you highlighted and we have processes by which we r covert testing against our systems to look through overall through put including a move which we call index testing where we do an assessment across our system to really understand what performance levels are at each time. This recommendation goes out at a slightly different area which is the efficacy of the technology over time. Weve got a couple of ideas around this, but well want to have a good discussion with gao to make sure it matches their interests and thoughts because to your exact point we cant bring a live explosive to a checkpoint on a regular basis, given the equipment we have. How is the best way to approach this that meets the need, but is feasible and effective . Thank you. And with the 51 seconds i have left, i have a question that really doesnt deal with this gao report, but its to do with the real i. D. , and you know, its set to be in effect that everybody is supposed to have a real id, a travel id by october 1, 2020. Do we have any, like, thoughts. Does tsa have any thoughts because im worried that people arent going to get these things in time. People are trickling and getting these. Ive gotten one and my sons gotten one, but the deadline hits and what are we expecting is going to happen . Because i think every single Congress Member is going to be, like, tons of calls are going to happen because theyre going to show up at the airport without this real id and they cant fly. So at this point, the most important thing we can do is get wider awareness of the deadline out to as many people as possible, and help people understand that they have more than one option. So both you can get a real idcompliant license, but if your state is not quite there, you also have other options to receive compliant documentation and examples include passports and a global entry card and military i. D. , and critical through all of this is to get the word out as far as possible not only through the entire travel industry, who are working very hard with us, with local Motor Vehicle administrators to help create that awareness and to conduct local enrollment events at airports and other locations to try to ease that burden and make it more readily visible to people on how they can quickly update, but right now, most critical, we need to get the word out. And i think all of us should help in doing that because otherwise a lot of people will call our offices, i think. So you had mentioned one of the alternatives is global entry ready. Is precheck also an alternative . At this time and its important to recognize how precheck works today. Through precheck we conduct a series of additional verifications looking for threat information within someones background. However, when someone shows up at the travel document check or at the front of the cue, what they are often presenting is their drivers license. Under statute and implementing regulations, we are not allowed to accept a noncompliant drivers license after october 1, 2020. Thank you. Thank you, miss lesko, and i would like to recognize mr. Cleaver for five minutes of questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Cogswell, thank you for being here and mr. Russell, thank you, as well. This none of this has to do with your work, but ive been almost every other month, it seems that whenever weve had a full Committee Hearing weve had a new director or a new acting director which cant possibly be one of the Better Things thats happening to the agency. Thats not a question. Thats a declaration. And so, my concern is not only are the changes at the top, but when we talk about the workforce issues, we still have a an unbelievably high turnover rate of tsa employees, and thats i hope that is as troubling to you as it is to me because, you know, i go i do an average of 1800 air miles a week, and so, i get a chance to note the guys for about six months and then there is a new group coming in and it seems like every flight of every other time i go to the airport theyre training a new group to come in. My analysis is the poor pay. Ill get the change . Thank you very much for the question, and i appreciate your efforts and interests in ensuring that you are caring for our workforce. I appreciate very much and know they appreciate your engagement when you go through. It means a lot to them to ask them how their day is, rather than rush along and thank you very much for your support. We have the authority to do now and all you do is provide a retention incentive. For those airports where retention is significantly above what we would like to see, we are authorized and do pay a differential to them now. That differential ranges above 5 the regular salary to up to 60 depending on local working conditions and the level of retention we issue we see at that specific location. We have additional authorities with respect to other pay reforms he can take. And we have the transportation security act. There is broad ability for us to set what type of pay system we have. What we dont have, however, is budget to make broadscale changes across the board. Okay. Lets put a period right there for a minute. You can put a comma because so, let me interpret what i thought i heard you say that significant changes can be made, but there is a need to increase funding for those positions before it could be done on a scale that would assure employees that there is a future in this. We are working on a series of options that we are considering for the administration and look forward working with Congress Going into the future. Very kind. I guess you cant we need to pay them more money and if we or i need to push for a higher budget, if theres an understanding that everything is being done now to increase the salaries with the budget that is there, my belief is that we need to did a budget increase and whatever we need to do because ive never understood this. The people in whose hands we place our lives, every for me, every week sometimes three or four times a week, we pay them less money. I mean, it just doesnt register with me. I cant figure it out, and so i want to fix it. Mr. Russell somebody help me can you help me . What do you think . What what needs to be done . Yeah. So one of the things that weve seen in 2018, we did a report that looked at the staffing allocation model and how many airports and tsos need to go to the airports and what we found is that system is effective and budget constrain and they plug in the amount of funding that they have and plug in the numbers to best support the airports. So it could be a Different Number of tsos that are needed, if you unconstrain it when you do that model without the current budget. If that helps. I think my time has run out before my questions run out, but thank you very much, both of you. Thank you mr. Chairman. Well have a second set of questions. Id like to recognize mr. Bishop now for five minutes of questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Cogswell, tsas explosives detection is screening pass edgers for wide explosive threats. They include several provisions aimed at improving that program. Section 1928 requires tsa to have technical standards for thirdparty detections to screen passengers and property. What is the status of this provision and can you provide insight into what the committee can expect to see in terms of standards . Thank you very much, and i share your appreciation for k9 detection teams. Every time i go out to airports and other locations and i see the k9s in action as much as i love my job i wish i loved my job half as much as those dogs love their jobs. Every day you see their incredible dedication and hard work and i love seeing the k9s and their handlers in action. I will say, as to your specific question, we have formed the working group and the working group has submitted their recommendations to tsa. We are now in the process of formalizing those into standards and should have those completed in the next month or two. The law also authorized the thirdparty k9 cargo screening program. How has this provision been implemented and what has the response been from the transportation stakeholders . We issued the implementing regulations last december and began immediately training the immediate teams and we have the teams that have been certified to date including a number of thirdparty entities who are able to provide that certification. Overall, we have seen a tremendous interest out of the cargo environment and receive a lot of support from industry from implementing that from vision. Thank you, maam. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. I would like to question ms. Barragan now . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Cogswell, you mentioned in your opening remarks some progress done on Service Transportation security. The act the modernization act pushes tsa to monitor way for transportation security and under sections 1901 of the act, the tsa is required the assessment of advanced Security Technologies into surface Transportation Systems and increasing vetting and identifying verification of the surface transportation passengers. The assessment was due to congress by april 3, 2019, but its not yet been produced. Can you tell us why thats the case and whether there has been an impact on the staffing that has impacted this deadline . Thank you very much. As was noted also in my testimony we stood up the surface transportation security Advisory Committee. We have also done a significant outreach effort across the country to engage with the various stakeholders involved in this process to identify where some of their highest interests and needs are, to ensure that as we developed various ideas for that Feasibility Study and analysis we were taking on those items of most interest. Do we know when the study is going to be ready for congress, the one that was due in april. We have some additional work under way within tsa to finalize that analysis and well need to go into review and it will be into early next year. In 2013, a gunman shot and killed a tsa officer at Los Angeles International airport, my home airport, and in 2017 a gunman shot and killed five people at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. In the aftermath of these shootings, dhs and tsa called for airports to create unified Operation Centers to coordinate Emergency Response and improve communications. In section 1987, the tsa of the modernization act required tsa to provide stake holders and framework for establishing such centers. This language came from my bill and the strengthening local transportation capabilities act. Ms. Cogswell, what is the status of this effort and what resources has tsa provided to airports . Maybe you can shed some light on how many airports have created these unified Operation Centers . We have issued those guidelines. We have currently, our staffing full time at 12 unified Operation Centers and have another four that are staffed intermittently depending on the response activities underway at those locations. We are working across the board with airports to understand what model works best with them and what expectations are within the Airport Community to promote a positive, unified response. What more can congress do to establish the centers . Is there anything else we can do to be helpful . Continuing to talk about it. Youre highlighting the need, the reason for people to not need each other for the first time on a bad day, to regularly work problems together is the most important thing. Okay. I want to take a moment to applaud the work of tsa and the work of the men and women who are on the front lines, i call it, at our airports. I am a Firm Believer that the greatest terror threats will come through airport asks sea ports and the work they do is so critical to the safety of americans and the homeland, and so i want to applaud their work day in and day out and my colleague touched upon the issue of pay and salaries. I, frankly, cant understand why we pay the men and women on the front line such a low amount of money when theyre responsible for our security. So im greatly concerned about what we can do to increase morale, increase retention and making sure that they have representation to be in the strongest position possible. Now the tsa modernization act directed your agency to create a working group to work with labor representatives and produce a report outlining recommendations and how tsa could perform its Personnel Management system and im aware that tsa is late in submitting this report to congress so im hoping you can provide clarity on it. When can we expect this report and can you list any recommendations provided by this working group. The working group had a very productive discussion and created on a joint number of recommendations and the report is in final administration clearance and we hope to have it cleared within the next few weeks. Thank you. I yield back. Miss watson coleman, you are recognized for questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Cogswell, how are you today . Good. Ms. Barragan just asked you about the working group. Did the working group consist of union members, as well . Yes. When was it constituted . It started in the spring and went after the shutdown and went through full meetings went through the end of august. So the report that youre going to make is something that has that youre going to report on. Is that consensus between the union and the agency with regard to these tsos . Yes. Were really excited to see that. The National Deployment force, which is a need whether its seasonal or issue related is set to ensure that theres adequate screening resoreurces. And it was codified with the tsa modernization act and based on the bill of the tsa National Deployment force act. The ndf was deployed to large airports like seattle and denver which tsa did not meet its hiring goals and to airports in hawaii where tsa has a difficult time attracting candidates. What steps are you taking to hire permanent tsos at those particular, challenging airports . Thank you very much for the authorization for the National Deployment force. They have provided critical assets, not only for the issues you have identified, but in response to a wide range of various needs across tsa and this is a critically important aspect for us. I agree with you 100 and i want to know what were doing to help the people that work at those airports. We have incentives and authorized additional normal allocation hiring so they can ensure consistency over time with the full compliment of staff needed as well as authorizing additional measures and local travel, et cetera, so there could be more load balancing between hub and spoke airports in those areas. So the work group that was constituted is also going to address these issues and these areas that you particularly like to live at, but you dont necessarily want to work there under the current conditions, is that so . It will affect how you work out these challenging airport hirings and retention. So the work groups specifically looked at discipline procedures as well as grievance procedures and focusing on no, s focusing on those elements. Was there retention . There was not. Was there an intention for them to look at the issue of retention in particular . That was not an area where we signed them up for this round. We are having a number of other areas. Im asking, though, does the the bill, the law, include the discussion with the work group around those areas. I do not remember at this time. Im not quite sure, but i think it does because i think we were concerned about the recruitment and the retention, and the discipline, you know, and any other sort of employee procedures so i would appreciate feedback on that, if you dont mind. I want to ask you about something thats come to my attention regarding federal air marshals and there was an article in september of this year that sort of spoke to what is considered a crisis and chaos in the federal air marshal area, and tsas alleged inability to respond in such a way that keeps these air marshals from burning out with suicides. You had several allegations of sorry, terry. Allegations of just sort of Mental Health issues and a lot of them having to do with scheduling and the hours working and the depp prief asian of sleep and things of that nature and i was just wondering, do you all have something that was doing internally thats addressing these issues in particular, that you could highlight for us now and perhaps we could discuss later. Absolutely and look forward to discussing it more in depth. So just as a highlight, i would note that that article did not bring forward new data. It was looking at prior information so that the important piece to note is we already had a number of items under way. The first is where we are looking at, what the right mix and balance is of flying versus on ground time. That can mean your training time and it can mean groundbased assignment where you rotate out of flying for some period of time and perform another security function at the airport and it looks at how we best provide services so they have what they help when they need it and to help engage with the colleagues. Thank you. Through you, mr. Chairman, it is an issue that i would like for us to look at in a more indepth way. So noted and well go in that direction. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you very much. I would like to recognize the gentle person from new york, mr. Catco for five minutes of questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman and i appreciate the opportunity and thank you for being here. As part of the tsa modernization act there is multiple Insider Threat provisions contained in it. I want to get an update and i know were past the deadline for that and give you an explanation why we havent seen that, and if you can tell me where were at in the process ask tend tell me we havent met the deadline included in the bill . The most important part in the elements is to ensure deep, close collaboration with the various stakeholders involved. As you well know, we dont actually implement these ourselves in most instances. We are actually asking the airports to implement when we issue any kind of regulatory action. So what we want to do is ensure that the recommendations we identify are as much as possible done through a process, and the feasibility process including the Economic Analysis that goes with it is fully informed by what our stakeholders see and believe would be the impacts. The deadline, i believe, is october. Do you have a projected deadline when all of these provisions would be accounted for and reported back to us . Probably the largest piece, the Feasibility Study, we had to did a survey of more than 310 airports and i responded to that which was wonderful input toward that analysis. That one is wrapping up in terms of its process and is about to go into interAgency Clearance. I would hope you receive it early in the new year, if not before then. As to a be in of other provisions we have gone through an effort to receive direct input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee and are working to put together an overall road map for Insider Threat for all months. You sort of didnt answer my question. When do you expect to have this done . So the actual report for the recommendations we hope to have to you by early january. I appreciate that. I am concerned that there is a provision that we ask you to follow and you did not get it in a tombly manner and i appreciate the diligence with which youre doing it and if we go past january we might be more upset than we are right now. Be forewarned. The precheck was prechecked and passed into law. Whats the status of the laws requirement with the precheck lanes by enrolling passengers in precheck by also establishing what the administrator said was the established modified screening lanes or flex lanes to be low risk. As you know, sir. We conducted pilots earlier this year for both models. Coming up on that, we determined both models are feasible and both models are demonstrated through put that we can manage. What we then needed to do was twofold and one to determine the airports where based on current flow projected volumes we can go ahead and implement well in advance and which locations are doing a precheck lane wouldnt allow us to manage the overall through put for that airport. At this point in time we believe were ready to start executing and cutting over for all of those airports where we believe we can do so now. We believe in the end that will be 75 of the total of 4450 airports where well be able to implement. The current status of the precheck lane and are there nonstatus members going through the precheck lane . There is. You will start seeing airports. When you say cut over, what do you mean . We started this week. When you say cut over. For those airports we will no longer have rules based inclusion on the process. When do you expect to be 1 hun in precheck lanes because thats really what the bill is about and thats what were really interested in. We are very mindful of the deadline and the interest to achieve that deadline. We also very much recognize the importance of providing a consistent experience. What we want to also not do, however, is totally disrupt an airport by doing so in a way that doesnt make sense. Critical to this is us being able to identify additional lowrisk populations that would be eligible for some other kind of modified screening that is not as streamlined as precheck. That process is taking us a bit longer than any of us had hoped for, but critically important for us to get right. We will continue to provide you updates. But i want to forewarn you all that that is not an optional date and i dont want to have another hearing to say you didnt comply with that either, and it is very important from a security standpoint that only people that are in precheck which is a higher level of repetitive screening of those candidates should be in precheck and also people pay for it and its a service that they expect to have and enjoy and thats not an actual deadline in the law and if that deadline is not met there will be a lot of problems from this committee. Thank you, mr. Kepco. I concur with you, and it should not be an option and ill have miz jacksonlee ask five minutes of questions. Without objection. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. First of all, let me acknowledge the chairman and the Ranking Member for their courtesy and the members of the committee with a little bit of a nostalgia, this committee i chaired a few years ago and i want to express my appreciation to all of the tsos that work across the nation and to reiterate what ive done over and over again that since nech the American People would be absolutely shocked and amazed of the terrorist threats and danger to the Aviation System that tsos have prevented. Let me first of all start with every time we mention the employment landscape or the labor numbers, it looks like tsa says all is well, but you will find not only in the ordinary course of business where their holidays and otherwise that there are long lines and people are not in place or shifts are changing. What are you doing to modernize from the perspective of a free flow of a seamless system that has enough tsos to be in place, whether or not theyre at the ait machine or elsewhere to provide that extra level of comfort regarding the security mechanism that theyre responsible for . Tsa has an extensive model where we receive information from the Aviation Community about projected volumes, number of tickets sold and when new flights will be onboard so we can model, not only airport by airport, but checkpoint by checkpoint based on projected models and there are instances when those models dont work and any time there is a thunderstorm set that comes up the east coast, but in a series of other instances we look for how best to meet the need. I will say the most important part from our perspective is ensuring that were working to retain our through put timelines within our established parameters which is 30 minutes for standard and ten minutes for precheck. Does that mean let me try to pierce that. Does that mean, do you have every tso that you need to make the system work across the United States of america at this time . There are a number of instances and we are working closely with those airports where airline volume continues to increase in a very hefty rate which is fantastic for our economy of this country. Unfortunately, a number of these airports were not actually built to accommodate that level of throughput within the existing lane structure. In those instances we work closely with the airports to understand how best can we open up a new lane, move shops or other to make additional space. We then staff those lanes as they become available, and we talk about how the longer term plans are for to service those additional volumes. I want to make the same point and follow up about the deadline regarding the certified identification and i would hope that we can get an update as we move toward the deadline, and after a great deal of confusion and the persons inability to have that i. D. And i would encourage and i have another question. Are you all doing a sort of lastminute education outreach level that you can actually hear it and pierce it and that means it has to be on all levels of social media including television. Ive heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. Yes. We are working across the board with the travel industry talking to them how they can change up as passengers buying tickets. As people are flying now our officers are advising someone the document you are providing you will do a because my time is yeah. You will do an outreach campaign. Tsa is doing a full outreach before the deadline . We have started already. Let me ask you about the travel program, with the black Panther Party and ive dealt with the tsa when she travels over and over again. From my perspective and her background, she proposes opposes no threat. What is her route of getting off of, i assume it shows up on her ticket. I use her as an example and shes allowed me to use her name. What is the process for like when i first came here, ted kennedy was on the list and john lewis was on the list and how do you extract yourself off this list and i will say as they do their job. I think it is very important to do their job. Let me be clear, and do you have particularly sensitive to the approach and to the language, to how you move the person around and obviously, theyre not a threat right there because you already see that they dont have any weapons and theyre already in the security area, but what is the process . Yes, maam, there are a couple of pieces i would highlight and first and foremost is the ability to go through dhs trip. Anyone who has had an issue while traveling may apply for dhs trip. This is a program thats government wide and we manage it out of tsa and the number one thing we find is the vast majority of individuals who are applying arent actually on a watch list and might have a soundalike name and similar spelling and similar name and similar date of birth and are inadvertently matched against the record and quite easy for the individuals we are able to distinguish them and we then give them a redress number. When they use their redress number in their travel as theyre making it with the airline we therefore know not that person and therefore they will not match. I will pursue that with you further and try to directly and mr. Chairman, this is something that happened in the early, early stages of tsa when an 8yearold boy and we spent two years trying to get him off the watch list and late senator ted kennedy and a number of others were on this list and were either rejected for tickets or couldnt get through. So we havent heard as much, but we still have some of them, as you well know, and i think for the traveling public, certainly tsa and tsos are doing their job, but i really want to make sure that there is a pathway for those going through security and are not threats and are treated as such, but i thank you for yielding and i look forward to working with you and monitoring the modernization program. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, ms. Jacksonlee. Thats a very important issue. Are you on that list as well . I left out my pastor. I dont want to speak out of turn, and i assume he knows how it feels because he has a very important and unique name. Thank you. Start a second round of questions, if i may and ill start with myself, and recognize myself for another five minutes of questions and i want to follow up to mr. Cleavers comments about tsa personnel pay and we still have a lot of parttime folks, and if i were to extrapolate you have a high turnover and i think if you have a parttime job most of the folks working for you are there parttime until they can get another fulltime job somewhere, so i think thats the crux of the issue. So this is a budgetary challenge that we have . We actually, as part of the 2020 budget changed up the ratio for our parttime and are decreasing the number of parttime individuals authorized across our airports. There are specific locations where it still makes a lot of sense and you have individuals who have retired from other jobs and dont actually want to work a full schedule. Work is very well for them and especially for some of those looks depending on the type of workforce. Would you say the parttimers would prefer to be a fulltime and those parttimers would prefer to stay parttime and there are others, however, who would very much like to and prefer there are folks who are not retired and probably want stability from a fulltime job and probably dont have that opportunity and so my next question is in terms of budget, we have that that tax, that fee we pay on tickets and thats supposed to go to Airport Security . Yes. And it goes to Airport Security . All, but the amount set aside under the budget control act to go to deficit reduction. Say that again . I love the way you put that. Can you restate that . It doesnt go to Airport Security. It does not. That amount does not. That amount goes to deficit reduction. The remainder comes to tsa. So we tax our passengers for security and that money does not go to security. It goes to debt budget reduction. Thank you. Lets move on to Small Business participation. This committee is also focused on increasing Small Business participation especially in the area of new screening technologies. The act requires tsa to produce a strategy in february to outline how youre supposed to get there. Whats the status of this strategy and why are we eight months late on this specific area . The strategy is within the administration inner Agency Clearance and we hope to have it out within the next few weeks. I will say this is an area that i do actually feel quite proud. I might tack a few minutes talking about please do. Seek to incentivize and build out. We agree with you that it is critically important to continue to look for new entrance in this space. That we not solely see a consolidation for the market and we look for the best ideas and even for and frankly, more importantly for individuals who never thought of themselves is working in the security community. Just as a couple of examples id like to highlight. Last year we ran a special exercise through dhs science and technology with a number of entities out in the wider world including educational institutions to look at new algorithms for our ait machines and the onbody screening detection systems and incredibly promising work and all from individuals who have not previously provided this kind of service to tsa before. We have those algorithms in the lab now depending on the results we would look to deploy them out on the existing fleet, increasing both our detection and reducing our false positives that we see in that arena. Other examples of the 2. 1 billion that tsa spent last year in acquisitions 450 million was exceeding our target for last year and almost a quarter of our entire work. C. T. Machines and you see Small Businesses engaging in this area . Yes. One of the vendors who is directly involved and is currently undergoing trials is, in fact, a Small Business. What percentage of your nonservice contracts are set aside for Small Businesses . So at this time, we do not have a set aside, but we have indicated in the current ct procurement that we may choose to have us set aside. Do you have a set aside for veterans . I dont know the answer. I can follow up with you. Please. If i might highlight one other area if its acceptable . Please do. In this past year we do a Broad Agency Announcement that also seeks different angle, different work against key problem areas through our Innovation Task force. Last year we received 85 sub migs fr submissions, and 55 of which had never responded to a solicitation and 72 had never contracted with tsa. Of the ones awarded we selected 12 for demonstration and seven are Small Business. I want to encourage you to look for Small Businesses and thats where the innovation will come from. Im sure your traditional standard contractors are doing a fine job, but if you want to think out of the box we have to go somewhere where we havent gone before so please continue to do that work. Im out of time and i would like to recognize miss lesko for five minutes of questions, as well. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This question is for ms. Cogswell. Section 1906 of the law requires tsa to complete a comprehensive agencywide review to produce spending reductions and administrative savings that can be achieved by streamlining offices within tsa. This provision also asked tsa to elimina eliminate duplicative programs and the Senior Executive Service Personnel by as much as 20 and i would assume one of my questions is going to be if we can reduce these duplicative programs and reduce the number of Senior Executive personnels could we then move the money over to the concern about tso officers pay and anyway, this report was due on august 1st and i guess we dont have the report yet so my question is twofold. When do you think we will have the report and can we utilize any of these savings and move it over to tso pay increases . Thank you very much, maam. We have completed the analysis including already implementing significant realignments across the agency. We also have projected in additional cost savings for headquarters associated with our move later sorry, going into next year out to spring field of about 11 across headquarters functions with the sole intent of reallocating to the field and we hope to get it to you within the coming weeks. Wonderful. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. I would like to recognize mr. Cleaver for five minutes of questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. When i was having difficulties getting through the airport which is because of my last name, but for an American Airlines Government Relations person in washington im not sure that i would not still be on there, but i want to talk about money. This is not your fault, but i think youre about the fourth person this year that ive raised this issue because of my concern, and so, you know, how long are you going to be here . How long are you going to be here in the job . I am not intending to leave any time soon. I was selected to this job and ive been here for about 18 months. The problem is i talk to one person and they say youre right, were going to do something and then the next month we have a new director and a new acting director, and so i dont i dont want to waste your time and my time talking about something that, you know, you wont be around long enough to address. Tell me, what is the starting salary for a tso . If you look at the base salary without the locality pay included its about 27,000, roughly, give lent roughly equivalent to a gs4. If you add locality pay it is 34,000. The gs4 will im sorry, sir . A gs4 is probably not going to get shot at. The gs4 position that it is modeled after is the position that is designated by opm for what is called unarmed Security Guard is the compareator. I share with you, however, the very strong interest in recognizing the incredible professionalism of the workforce and the increasing automation that they are required to know, the sheer variability in their environment and completely concur with you that i value them well above that. So we have to get this fixed. I mean, i know let me just you know, hopefully, well get a budget and some kind of spending bill because there are a couple of things that i want to try to get in there. One, weve got to stop paying these people who put their lives on the line a pittance, and the other part is my airport and youre the fourth person that ive talked about that, and cant say the International Airport and cant say missouri is one of only two airports in the country where we dont have the tsa workers, and you know, theres no one long enough to work with because i want to get that stopped and changed. San francisco is the other airport, but i dont want ours to stay like it is. So two things that i need your help on, one is the money and one is this private contractor who is running the tsa airport in kansas city, missouri. Im not mad at hum or her, but it started out just like with the facial recognition. We started out it started out as some kind of a test pilot the pilot project, rather and the pilot has been rolling now since 11, and it needed to be changed. Can you change it by the time you come back next week . The Screening Partnership program is established in law, sets out the exact parameters for how we put out the parameters and the requirements for how the program operates and how we identify, which vendors will be able to meet the there are only two. Everybody else on the federal program. We have 24. Little bitty airports. Youre talking about ive been to those airports, too. Texas, where i graduated high school. Youre right, but im talking about the largest city in the state of missouri. The largest city in the lower midwest, and we still are running on a program that is supposed to be temporary. Were happy to come and talk to you more. When can you when the reports are involved and theyre the ones that determine whether or not who . The Airport Authority is the actual one who says they want to pursue the private entity. We dont have an Airport Authority. I used to be mayor of this city. We dont have an Airport Authority. Wed be more than happy to come and speak to you about your airport. Ill talk to you after. Thank you. I would like to recognize ms. Jacksonlee for five minutes of questions. Can i again say how grateful i am for your kindness and to the committee. Let me say to congressman cleaver please count me in as joining in enthusiastically. When this Program Began i was in opposition to it, again, not in any negative reflection on contractors, but i think because the tsos are Frontline Security for National Security there should be a consistent, managing structure and as indicated, congressman, the airports opted in, and they were given this but it was put into law by us, individuals who thought privatization was a good thing and many of us opposed it, but it is in loss, and that means the airport can opportunity in, but they can opt out and say for the contract whether it runs out or not, but thats what happened. The other thing that i want to make sure is were no longer thinking about not having tsos at small airports. Do you remember that was proposed in some, i think, mindless concept that we wont put them at the small airports and well wait until someone gets on the plane as a terrorist and go to the big airport. So i just want to get that answer. That is no longer on the table regarding small airports not having tsos under National Transportation administration. Correct. The other point is about the salaries of tsos because one of the modernization is the questions that gao mentioned and id like him to expand is the modernization of technology. Are we moving enough as tsa, moving fast enough with the new technology to detect more sophisticated ways of terrorist behavior, sir . Certainly. So weve seen with the computer tomography at the checkpoint and thats the latest technology thats being piloted, but certainly we have thinking adversaries and changing tactics and new threats when we last covered the tsas Testing Program and we saw that there were challenges there and what their own teams were able to find when they did their covert tests and so i think the key there for tsa is once you know the vulnerabilities is once you know the technologies and the processes or the tsos could be doing better to find a Mitigation Solution and get those implemented and so we had a few recommendations that tsa is working on in that regard. Can i yield to the deputy to see and are you moving on the recommendations of gao, particularly with technology . We are moving on those recommendations and i highlighted our Innovation Task force as one of the key areas where we are able to rapidly bring onboard potential solutions that have gone through kind of an initial review with that ability to do demonstration, determine the effectiveness well before its ready for full market. This lets us our development of the requirement process, frankly, as well as help understand whether or not theres feasibility in a specific location. Significant improvement over procurement processes. So does that mean holistically, that youre trying to make amends or correct the slowness in technology or to expand particular tech and then train tsos on that new technology. Is that a goal that youre working on . Absolutely to all three of those. Yes. And i compliment the gentleman from kansas, to missouri, kps as city on raising the contracting issue. My concern would be in the airports that accepted that, i want to make sure the salaries are comparable and that youre taking under advise chlt the need for increased salaries. I know what do you need from us, i know money, but what is the structure that you need to increase the salaries of your tsos . Such as to highlight the point you made about the difference between the tsos and the spp airports, we do require that they pay the same amount and if we are able to identify additional funds and they would be required to match, as well and what we would like in the nearterm is to have different models and whats within the authority and what is the option within the funding caps that we receive for the coming years to determine the best path forward. Extrmly, i cant say enough how extremely valuable we think it is that you are asking these questions and expressing this interest. Incredibly valuable for the workforce of our morale, as well as the interest, demonstrating the interest and importance that these officers perform on a daytoday basis. If i can squeeze one more question in. We opened a couple of years back the academy in georgia. I want to know how thats working and this whole idea of professional development, are you all still encouraging . I understand you send tsos to that school after theyve been on staff for a while. You changed the format. Is that working . Is that what im saying and can you tell me how thats working . Yes. We changed our model and when we have the centralized capability and were sending them to a multiweek training and in rapid order theyre understanding what life was like working at a checkpoint and deciding perhaps it wasnt the best fit. Through our new model we are able to train them on certain functions that dont require the full training and let them experience the environment and see how loud it is and see how it is like interacting with several thousand people a day and make sure its a good fit for them and then go through the training and we are seeing a decrease in a number of people leaving after the training saving us as well. Professional development is krit like important. And part of our progression as well. We need to keep funding it. Absolutely. Thank you very much. I want to thank the witnesses for your very valuable, important testimony and i want to thank the members also for their questions and if i can, ms. Cogswell, you heard some of the messages here today, theyre very important to us to try to reduce technology and of course the issue mr. Cleaver brought up which is once youre on them and members of the committee do they have any additional questions for the witnesses we ask that you respond in those questions and without objection the Committee Records should be kept open for ten days and no further business this meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much. Thanks, chris. Can you hear me . By the way, the