Testimony by Kip Hawley
Assistant Secretary of the Transportation Security Administration
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
February 16, 2006
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Sabo, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. The President’s proposed budget for FY 2007 reflects the strong commitment of President Bush, Secretary Chertoff, and TSA to the security of our Nation’s transportation systems. I am proud to serve under Secretary Chertoff, who is revitalizing the department, and in a very short time has gotten us all on the same page regarding a clear DHS strategy, and made it a no-excuses priority for components like TSA to work in concert with our other Department partners. For TSA, this means four key principles:
- Making investments and operational decisions based on risk;
- Taking the initiative away from terrorists by introducing unpredictability in our security processes;
- Using intelligence to get ahead of the threat; and
- Building and leveraging existing security network partnerships.
Because TSA has direct responsibility for aviation passenger and baggage screening, aviation-related programs represent the bulk of our budget request. TSA has requested a total of $4.7 billion for aviation security.
Technology investments continue to be a major part of our request, including $865 million to fund the acquisition, replenishment, installation, and maintenance of passenger and baggage screening systems.
Just as we make investments in capital to improve both efficiency and effectiveness, it is critical that we manage and deploy our human resources based on the principles of risk, flexibility and preparedness.
Over the last several months, we have carefully examined key workforce metrics and engaged our TSO workforce in how to make improvements. Based on their input and our analysis, we are approaching these issues from several angles, including:
- Reducing attrition by creating a performance-based pay system, retention incentives for part-time TSOs, and opportunities for career advancement within the TSO job category.
- Improving effectiveness, not only by reducing turnover, but also by enhancing the skills of our TSO workforce through training; and
- Continuing to reduce injury rates by reengineering baggage screening areas, focusing first on airports with the highest injury rates and quickly introducing low-cost solutions like roller tables.
We believe the changes included in our FY 2007 budget will provide the resources necessary to implement these solutions.
Our responsibilities in surface transportation security, while funded with fewer direct federal dollars, are also critically important. I, and the senior leadership at TSA and DHS, spend a great deal of our personal time in this area.
Working in partnership with Federal, State, local and industry stakeholders, TSA is focused on the goals of getting ahead of terrorists with good intelligence, good analysis, and good information sharing, as well as building a more flexible threat response capability.
Please do not judge our surface transportation security effectiveness by simply looking at the amount of resources focused on detecting or responding to an attack that is already underway. Working with others, in and out of government, our focus is to pre-empt terror attacks, disrupt them before an attack is in progress. This is a more effective use of resources, and a much more successful approach for protecting Americans in every part of the transportation system.
We have already restructured TSA headquarters operations to provide a strategic focus and serve as an information resource for each mode. General managers and staff are in place, and we are building security strategies and programs to establish standards, assess and inspect security operations, and optimize the use of all of our security resources.
TSA’s budget request includes $37 million dedicated solely to Surface Transportation Security. In addition, we have requested $21 million for TSA’s Transportation Security Intelligence Service, which supports intelligence and information sharing in all transportation modes. These funds are further supplemented by a requested $600 million for targeted infrastructure grants administered by the DHS State and Local Program Office.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with the Subcommittee on this budget process and throughout the year. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I will be pleased to respond to questions.
