Summary

Aviation Security: Slow Progress in Addressing Long-Standing Screener Performance Problems

T-RCED-00-125  March 16, 2000

Full Report (PDF, 12 pages)   

Securing an air transportation system the size of the United States'--one with hundreds of airports, thousands of aircraft, and tens of thousands of flights daily carrying millions of passengers and pieces of luggage--is a daunting task. Concerns have been raised for many years by GAO and others about the effectiveness of airport screening checkpoints and the persons who operate them. This testimony discusses (1) the causes of screener performance problems in detecting threat objects; (2) the status of efforts being made by the Federal Aviation Administration to address them; and (3) compares the screening practices of five other countries--Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom--with those of the United States.

Subject Terms

Accident prevention
Air transportation
Airlines
Airport personnel
Airport security
Airports
Aviation security
Comparative analysis
Facility security
Federal employees
Safety standards
Terrorism
Transportation safety
Belgium
Canada
FAA Threat Image Projection System
France
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Federal Aviation Administration