Summary

In response to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Civil Aviation Security Program, to determine whether the screening process identified weapons, explosives, or other dangerous test objects.

GAO found that: (1) of the 2,419 times that FAA tested the passenger screening process at major airports, 1,923 screenings, or 80 percent, correctly identified dangerous items, while in 496 screenings, or 20 percent, the items went undetected; and (2) test results varied among individual regions, ranging from a low of 34 percent to a high of 99 percent.