Good morning. Today, we are considering the nomination of administrator David Pekoske for a second term. To lead the Transportation Security Administration. I want to welcome you back, administrator, to the committee. Senator cantwell has a lot going on right now and i was a little late because i had another obligation with a grade to come over and help out with sharing the hearing. So tsa employees, like those in minneapolis, st. Paul international airport, keep our skies safe, our travelers on time and the airport running day in and day out. Its critical that we rise to meet increased demand for air travel and properly balance the need for safety with a quality experience for travelers. Congress created tsa on november 19th 2001 in the wake of the attacks of september 11th to strengthen the security of our nations Transportation Systems and to prevent future terrorist attacks over the past two decades tsa has evolved to deploy advance technologies like touchless screening capabilities and to address the new National Security risks. Like cybersecurity. Im sure something on your mind. Tsa must adapt to meet new threats, including those posed by unique circumstances such as Public Health crises like the pandemic. And the same time, traditional resources such as canine explosive detective teams, continue to play in Important Role in keeping us safe. We know that in airports across the country, tsa screens over 2 million passengers and 1. 4 million checked bags for explosives and other dangerous items. This helps ensure the security of over 24,000 domestic flights in nearly 3400 out vow International Flights per day. We know that there have been delays at the airports. I was just talking to our a people as it came through sunday night. We had no lines that day. We were very excited. Not a group of, dont worry about that. Just kind of a celebration of the situation. We know theres been workforce issues, as there are in every place of employment practically around the country. Im sure we will want to talk about that some. The members when you look at the numbers, fourth of july long weekend from thursday through monday, tsa screened more than 11. 3 million travelers. That is at more than 93 of prepandemic levels. And friday, july 1st, was the busiest air travel day since the onset of the pandemic. With nearly 2. 5 million individuals through tsa checkpoints. Tsa needs to keep up with the rising demand and address any staffing shortfalls. And i look forward to talking with you about that. Tsa is also charged to protect critical surface Transportation Systems that connect cities, manufacturers and retailers empower our economy through more than 4 million miles of roadways, nearly 140,000 miles of railroad track, 470 tunnels and over 2. 8 million miles of pipeline. Last years attack on the Colonial Pipeline threatened nearly 50 of the east coast fuel supply. And again, another example where we need to harden our energy infrastructure. We are very pleased that we have viewed your experience in addition to your years if you provided counterterrorism security and intelligence support services. The Government Agencies during your years in the private sector. You have a distinguished career in the u. S. Coast guard. Serving as the coast guards 26 vice commandant, the second in command, while also serving us is chief operating officer in component acquisition executive. You hold a master of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of technology, also known as a mit. A master of Public Administration from Columbia University in a bachelor of science in the u. S. Coast guard academy. Needless to say, you are more than ready and experienced to have this job as you are smiling employees behind you are indicating or whoever they are. They seem to be in your camp, i will say that much. Going you think, senator wicker . With that, ill turn it over to member worker. Paid actors, no doubt. Thank you so much, senator klobuchar and we, i want to join you in welcoming admiral pekoske back to this committee. We appreciate his continued willingness to serve. The 9 11 attacks led to the creation of the Transportation Security Administration. And its placement within the department of homeland security. I was a member of the house of representatives 20 and one half years ago when we did this. Psa is charged with protecting nations Transportation Systems. While also ensuring the freedom of movement and commerce. Tsa is nearly 60,000 employees. Play a Critical Role in securing our nations transportation modes. Including commercial aviation, general aviation, mass transit systems, freight rail, passenger rail, highways, pipelines and ports. The 43,000 plus transportation Security Officers who screen travelers every day are certainly among most visible part of tsa. To the public with their many others in the tsa workforce including transportation security inspectors. Federal error marshals, visible intermodal prevention and response teams. So this committee greatly appreciate the dedication shown by you, admiral pekoske, and the vast majority of tsas frontline personnels who continue to work throughout the covid19 pandemic. Each day, tsa screens more than 2 million passengers. And at 1. 4 million checked items for explosives and other dangerous items. Growth in air travel is expected to continue and will either approach or exceed prepandemic volumes in the coming months. Tsa also worked closely with owners and operators to protect the variety of surface Transportation Systems that connect our cities. Manufacturers and retailers. These include more than 4 million miles of roadway, nearly 140,000 miles of railroad track. Over 470 to protect critical surface Transportation Systems that connect cities, manufacturers and retailers empower our economy through more than 4 million miles of roadways, nearly 140,000 miles of railroad track, 470 tunnels and over 2. 8 million miles of pipeline. Last years attack on the Colonial Pipeline threat nearly 50 of the east coast fuel supply. And again, another example where we need to harden our energy infrastructure. We are very pleased that we have viewed your experience in addition to your years if you provided counterterrorism security and intelligence support services. The Government Agencies during your years in the private sector. Manufacturers and retailers. These include more than 4 million miles of roadway, nearly 140,000 miles of railroad track. Over 470 tunnels. In more than 2. 8 million miles of pipeline. All of which are critical to our economy. Tsa conducts roughly 8000 surface inspections annually. As part of a risk based approach for securing a large and complex Transportation Systems in our nations critical infrastructure. However, since its inception, tsa has been subject to significant criticism. The Government Accountability office. The dhs Office Inspector general the regulating communities. To meet these challenges last fall, at the 20th anniversary of this agency, i introduce the Transportation Security Administration 20th anniversary review act. This act would require an independent review to evaluate tsa successes and failures. Something that has never been done since the agencies creation. And i hope admiral pekoske will agree that this is necessary. I also hope the administrator will work with me on yet another bill. Mightiest a Security Threat assessment Application Modernization act. Which would streamline the enrollment process for key security credentials used in freight transportation. I appreciate admiral pekoskes willingness to continue serving the American People and i appreciate his team. Senator klobuchar mentioned. I look forward to working with the administrator to ensure that tsa implements the best possible security for our Transportation Systems without unduly interfering with the travel, commerce and civil liberties. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you very much. Please, admiral. Love to hear from you. Good morning, senator klobuchar, Ranking Member wicker and distinguished members of the committee. I have had the honor of serving as a leader of the Transportation Security Administration for nearly five years. It is my group of age to be before you today and to be considered for a second five year term as administrator. I would like to thank President Biden for the nominating me to this important National Security position. I also think secretary majorcas and the entire dhs testing. Team for their support during david this process. I also would like to recognize and thank my peck ocd, tech cos gay family for their unending. Support and disposition and throughout my career. When President Biden announced my renomination, want to blackburn, richard queens that systems. They are dedicated, committed work force. Of note, i want to talk about our transportation Security Officers. T s owes and recognize people every day. And performer critical National Security function for our nation. There was never stops. They come to work without pay. They came to work without pay gerard 35day partial Government Shutdown in 2019. They staff the checkpoints when much of the rest of the country remained home amid the onset of the covid19 pandemic. And transportation Security Officers have been an important part of the recovery of air travel for the pandemic. Similarly, our federal air marshals protect the nationpiran to me and totally deserving of our full support. That starts with funding the president s fiscal year 2023 budget request which provides pay equity for tsa employees. And finally put them on equal footing with the rest of their counterparts in the federal government. It confirmed i will continue to do all i can to advocate for and hopefully implement pay equity. I will continue to work hard to ensure that tsa workforce is well prepared to meet the challenges of the next five years and beyond. Tsa does not do its job alone. Our Mission Success is directly dependent on the cooperation between the agency and its myriad of partners. In aviation we continue our strong partnerships with our critical stakeholders, the airlines, airports, state and local governments and other federal agencies, foreign governments and, of course, pilots and flight attendants. Equally important are the growing partnerships we have with us or precipitation sector were tsa works closely with oil and natural gas pipeline, passenger transit rail, freigt rail, truck and bus industries. Finally amid the challenges of growing Cyber Threats tsa relies heavily on forging productive partnerships with owners and operators of our critical transportation infrastructure for which tsa serves as the security regulated. I value our partnership with organized labor, employee Resource Groups and advisory panels to provide advocacy for our workforce. They help us remain strong by promoting healthy and Thriving Work environment for our tsa family. I want to take a second and recognize these partnerships and thank all those entities for their contributions toward securing our nations Transportation Systems. If confirmed i will do everything i can to make your tsa maintains and strengthens these important partnerships to ensure our pursuit of the highest level of transportation security works in tandem with the facilitation of trade and commerce in the Transportation System. After 20 years tsa has grown considerably and weve learned a great deal about how best to protect our nations Transportation System. We still have much more work to do but i remain committed to tsas future. I look for to the opportunity to lead the people tsa for another five years, if confirmed. In closing i thank President Biden secretary mayorkas for the supported me and the entire tsa team. I think this committee for the great working relationship we have had over past five years which if we confirmed i hope to continue. Senator klobuchar Ranking Member wicker and distinguished members of the committee i look forward to your comments and questions. Thank you. Thank you very much, administrator. We have a number of senators here first of all to make sure you promise me you will tell our crew that theyre doing a great job. Absolutely promise. Thank you. Secondly, you talked about and it said the agency expects this summer to be very, very busy. You mention the numbers we are racing that. Talk about some of your biggest workforce issues, how do you think we could resolve them . Its been a busy summer, pretty much every day since memorial day has been a 2,000,000 travel day. You mention the busiest day was the friday before the fourth of july weekend, all the records, you know, before the pandemic. Its been very, very busy. Our workforce has performed incredibly during spring break and certainly as we are about in the midpoint in the summer. One of the biggest things for us i mentioned in my Opening Statement is to ensure we do achieve pay equity. When you look at all those many women that are on the front lines of tsa, they are generally making up 30 less than their federal counterparts and other agencies. If we classify their positions using Standard Guidelines their pay would increase by 30 . 30 . Thats significant and that something that is critical for tsa in the future and i would appreciate your support at ot pay equity initiative. The other thing that is very important to keep in mind is that everyone in the country pretty much has had a difficult time hiring entrylevel people. Its not easy. Its much harder than its ever been since ive been the administrator. We are about 10 below where we would like to be with our screening workforce but weve been able to maintain our wait time standards because of the incredible work of that workforce and said some mat flexibilities that we have. We asked for volunteers amongst all the transportation Security Officers and said hey, if you would like to volunteer, if youre in an airport that might be overstaffed we would like to maybe two another airport that would be understaffed. We had 1000 people raise her hand to do that. Thats why weve been able to maintain our standards to the busy summer today. I appreciated your willingness to move things. Ill never forget of years back when with huge delays because of some construction at our airport and you guys moved some dog crews from maui. You would appreciate, senator wicker, that these dogs had been in hawaii and they were moved to minnesota in february. That is what happened to them. But in any case i last two questions kind of on the same subject so i will ask them together. It is about this idea of international travel. Senator wicker actually, the bill that senator wicker led the travel and tourism omnibus act overall bill includes a bill that by senator wicker that authorizes the tsa to allow passengers arriving from foreign airports to transfer to connect flights at u. S. Airports without having to go through customs again. Theyve gone through it once, and senator blunt and i lead brand usa, done a lot of work in this area, cochair of the International Tourism caucus. Senator rosen issue a great leadership on this committee on this. How would the onestop security Pilot Program help improve and streamline the Passenger Experience . Onestop security is a terrific initiative and i really urge the passage of that initiative. It would give us the opportunity prototype onestop and several airports, internationally, and give us an amount of time to very carefully evaluate its effectiveness. First and foremost onestop security improves security. What it means is that flights that the park last when departure airports internationally bound for the u. S. Will be more secure with onestop than they are without onestop. So thats a very, very important point to make. The other is it provides a great deal of efficiency in our system. Rather than rescreen passengers, when were satisfied the security outcomes are commensurate with u. S. Outcomes, theres really no reason to rescreen passengers once they arrived in the United States. I think this will make a big difference for all travelers, in particular for business travelers who on tight schedules and wanting to move through the system quickly. Very good. And just come when you had to go on because ive gone done my time, we now in msp they can use passage from other countries can now choose to go through Border Control using facial recognition scanners. I assume there are some other updates we can do. We know these international travelers, courts