The Ad Council: A Final Post From Ellen Howe

In my final days here at TSA as the Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs (I’m one of four TSA political appointees leaving on January 20th), I wanted to get one last blog post in on our partnership with the Ad Council that supports our security operations. It’s something that was pretty important for me to get done before I left.

TSA interacts with two million people a day, and of that number, only a tiny fraction present a potential threat. The challenge for us is to get the majority of passengers through security efficiently so that we can focus on real threats, derived from intelligence gathering, watch lists and on-the-spot observations. Critical to this effort is getting the public on our side as active players in the security process. So in addition to reading blogs, web forums and the like, we held focus groups in several major cities in late 2007 to engage both frequent fliers and less experienced travelers to get their feedback on airport security.

What we heard wasn’t pretty, but it gave us insights to improve the process.

The first sessions were held in New York City just two blocks from the Ground Zero. It was surprising that people could be there, so close to where the towers once stood, and say that they never think about 9/11 when they fly. We learned the “road warriors” had to harden themselves to that possibility in order to fly so frequently. They also are frustrated by inexperienced travelers and families who slow down the lines.

Less frequent travelers said that they still think about 9/11 every time they fly. They worry about feeling stupid at the checkpoint for not knowing all the rules and getting barked at by officers and other passengers. Some didn't realize airline security was carried out by a federal agency, and many didn’t know TSA had a Web site where they could find information to help them get through security easier.

It was apparent that the participants largely saw TSA as a hindrance and inconvenience, as do many others that comment on this and other blogs. Overwhelmingly, participants were interested in knowing why they had to do what they do and said it would help them prepare for and participate at the checkpoint.

TSA had issued press releases, posted information on the web, even started this blog to reach out to travelers, but we had never used an organization like the Ad Council to conduct a comprehensive public awareness effort. The Ad Council is well-known and well-respected for its ability to raise awareness of critical issues and impact public behavior. They partnered with us just in time for the busiest travel weekend of the year: Thanksgiving. The results of this partnership were very positive – over the holiday season, we reached 41 million Americans.

The campaign includes videos that address common travelers’ concerns (shoes, ID, traveling with kids, laptops, etc.), web banners on travel-related sites and outreach to airline and travel sites encouraging them to post links to tsa.gov so passengers can get security-related information. Our goal is to reach people when they’re most focused on preparing for travel – when they book their flights or print out their boarding passes. The more people are prepared, the better it is for everyone.

Before I leave, I want to thank the people at TSA who built, maintain and participate on the blog – many didn’t think we could launch it and weren’t sure what would happen once we did. I’d also like to thank everyone who reads and comments on the blog. Good and bad, your input is appreciated and useful to many of us here at TSA.

Ellen Howe

Guest Blogger

Comment Policy Refresher

Over time, we’ve seen some complaints about censorship and deleted comments. The most common comments to be deleted are spam, comments containing curse words, posts with no substance, (i.e. you suck) double comments and comments containing large URLs. We just wanted to talk about the comment policy and help people understand where we’re coming from.

1) It’s fine to be critical of the TSA on the blog. We never expected our blog to be a haven for our fans to wave their big foam hand that reads “TSA is #1.” It’s obvious if you read all of the previous comments on our blog that we’re not shy of criticism. In fact, we may appear to be masochistic at times. However, that criticism should be respectful. To maintain a civil discourse on the blog, we just can’t post overly disrespectful comments or name calling of any kind. (crybaby, idiot, rent-a-cop, moron, etc.) We get sarcasm, and it’s still OK to be snarky, of course.
2) I use some very colorful language when I’m away from family and work, so I’m not offended by vulgarity. However, many people are. Also, this is a government blog, and while we do our best to let our hair down and not be your typical source of government information, we simply can’t allow vulgar language. What isn’t vulgar to you is vulgar to somebody else. So no matter how minor or common the curse word, we won’t publish your comment if it contains any vulgar language. It pains us to do this sometimes. I’ve had to reject some really good comments due to minor curse words. Even if you abbreviate, or use the typical %*$&#*$%(%($*# in place of the actual word, folks still know what you meant and we won’t post it. I’m sure everybody can show their passion for a topic without being a potty mouth. So, consider your rejected post to be a virtual bar of soap that we washed your mouth out with.

3) Spam… Admittedly, we have missed a few here and there, but we do our best to keep the blog spam-free.

4) It is not mandatory, but several of us on our own time, after work or on weekends, have moderated the blog. Please don’t expect this to happen all the time. There will be times when your comment may not be approved until the next business day if it’s posted after hours or on a weekend.

5) For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. I am lenient on this due to the way the blog is set up, but if you feel the need to post repetitive comments that have already been posted elsewhere, they will be rejected.

6) When linking to another blog or webpage, make sure there is no offensive content on that page. Also, long URLs knock our format out of whack, so we have to reject comments containing long URLs. There are a couple of fixes for this. Go to tinyurl.com. It is a free service that will convert your long URLs into a much shorter URL. Also, you can go here to learn how to hyperlink.

7) We do appreciate everyone’s participation on the blog and we do value your comments, good and bad. I just wanted you to better understand the methods of our madness and moderation.

Bob

EoS Blog Team

TSA’s Work Abroad

With more than 245 daily inbound flights to the U.S. from all over the world, TSA has put a major focus on collaborating with foreign aviation authorities and sharing best practices, intelligence, technological innovations and expertise so that flights coming into the United States have the same level of security as those departing the U.S.

In collaboration with DHS and Department of State, TSA coordinates transportation security bilaterally with individual countries and multilaterally through major international aviation-related organizations including the Group of Eight (G8), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the Asia –Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). Twenty-two TSA Representatives (TSARs) are deployed worldwide to serve as DHS’s “boots on the ground”; interfacing with international partners, coordinating the DHS response to transportation-related terrorist threats and incidents, and facilitating the security assessments conducted by TSA’s security specialists at more than 300 airports in more than 100 different countries. TSA’s international teams have successfully vetted 100% of airports with direct flights into the United States.

Here’s a brief overview of some of TSA’s international activities:

On August 1, 2008, TSA JFK Inspections and Screening coordinated security measures with Emirates Airlines to ensure the successful arrival of the first commercial A380 ‘superjumbo’ jet direct from Dubai.

For the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, TSA coordinated security efforts with the People’s Republic of China. This partnership began in the summer of 2007 when U.S. Federal Air Marshals hosted a training exchange with members of the Chinese Air Marshal Program at our facility in Atlantic City. From July 19 until August 24, TSA successfully coordinated security operations at China’s Joint Operation’s Center with teams deployed at airports in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

When thousands of anti-government protesters took over Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) on November 25 of this year, TSA responded by sending a team to assess the risk associated with flights departing for the United States. The team was able to ensure the security of direct flights to the United States by December 6, allowing Americans to return home safely.

In a brand new 2009 initiative, TSA plans to deploy special teams of veteran security experts to various international locations to assist host nations with enhancing and sustaining local aviation security. St. Lucia will be the first nation to participate in this initiative, and TSA’s assessment team will work with the St. Lucian Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to assess training needs, equipment, and aviation security legislation.

For additional information on TSA’s international efforts, please visit http://www.tsa.gov/approach/harmonization.shtm

Formalde-hype

The latest item to rise to top of my “Hot Topics” list is the concern of formaldehyde in the new TSA uniforms and the effect it is having on our officers. I have to admit, the first thing that came to mind was the “Til’ Death Do We Part” CSI episode where a funeral home employee was selling “used” clothing to second hand stores and people were dying from extreme formaldehyde exposure. Our case isn’t quite that severe, in fact, it’s not even close. But, when it comes to our officer’s safety, we take things very seriously and immediately looked into the issue back in September when we first became aware of some officers experiencing irritation from the new uniform. We also made 100% cotton uniforms available for any of our officers who needed them.
We went straight to the Vice President of Safety of VF Solutions, (The company that makes the uniforms) and he gave us some very helpful information:

VF Image Wear had an independent lab test 4 shirts - three shirts from officers that had significant skin irritations, and one from VF's inventory.

The testing tested for numerous irritants or allergens in or on the fabric, including formaldehyde. The testing showed that formaldehyde or any other irritant is NOT present in sufficient quantities to be the source of the skin irritation in a normal person, in fact the amount of formaldehyde in the tested shirts was “untraceable.” The industry standard testing would need to show in excess of 75 parts per million of formaldehyde to potentially be an issue. In fact, the testing is only sensitive to 20 parts per million, and again, formaldehyde did not register because it was below this level.

(Please note that TSA is working now conducting our own government assessment to verify the independent lab’s results using the same uniforms.)

Here are some additional factoids we learned from VF Solutions:

- The fabric used for TSA shirts has been purchased by VF Solutions from the same vendor without any changes for 10 years. In all colors, VF has purchased 105 million yards of fabric during that time, and produced 70 million shirts. In the royal blue used by TSA, VF has purchased 1.5 million yards and produced over 1 million shirts. VF Solutions has never had an issue raised or had any prior experience with skin irritations or rashes from this fabric.

- Fabric mills routinely use a resin compound which contains formaldehyde during the fabric weaving process. This compound adds the "permanent press" feature to fabrics containing cotton and rayon. This is a very common feature on the majority of cotton and rayon garments on the market today. Formaldehyde has been a component of this process since the 1960's. The government has regulations on the amount of formaldehyde that may be used.

- From internal interviews, VF has found no evidence of formaldehyde exposure from any of their own employees that cut the fabric, sew the garments or handle the garments in their distribution center.

- The fabric is manufactured solely in the U.S. at textile mills in North Carolina. The completed fabric is then sent to Mexico and Honduras to be sewn into uniforms and other clothing.

I also did some research to see how our uniform shirts compared to the formaldehyde levels of famous name brand manufacturers. I found the following in an article written by Dr. Sharyn Martin.

There is a variation in different country’s standards for formaldehyde release from textile finishes. Japan has the highest standards at 75 ppm for formaldehyde-releasing resin, compared with 300 ppm in the U.S. Some U.S. manufacturers are now using newer low formaldehyde or ‘no-formaldehyde’ finishes.

We take complaints of discomfort seriously of course, but to put this in perspective only 20 of our 45,000 have complained so far. So, as you can see from the facts, there’s no need to replace all of the uniforms as has been suggested elsewhere. It would be a shame to replace the uniform. Feedback from the workforce as well as passengers has been positive. There’s a great pride in the workforce about the new uniform.

Bob

EoS Blog Team

Ring in the New Year, Not the Walk Through Metal Detector

As 2008 closes, so does the first year of the blog. We’ve published 121 posts (not counting this one) and have had over half a million visits to our blog along with over 16,000 comments. (The hits just keep on coming)

It’s been great to read comments from all of our different personalities on the blog over the last year. While some of our readers agree with us and some agree to disagree, it’s these types of personalities all melted and mixed in a fondue pot that help make blogs a little more interesting to dip into. We’ve had the opportunity to open some eyes as to why we do the things we do. We’ve also had our eyes opened a few times.

The TSA EoS Blog Team would like to thank everybody who’s helped out with the blog this year. There are so many folks behind the scenes that you just don’t see. You’ve got the IT folks, legal, our officers and other TSA folks in various positions in the field, several HQ departments that help us with research from time to time, and of course, all of our readers and commenters.

Have fun ringing in the New Year, but if you’re traveling through an airport, please remember to divest all metal objects, or you’ll be ringing in the walkthrough metal detector. Oh, and yes… champagne is a liquid.

The Blog Team would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2009!

Thanks,

Bob

EoS Blog Team

TSA on 60 Minutes

TSA and aviation security was featured in a 60 Minutes segment with Lesley Stahl last night. Transportation Security Officers LaDonta Edwards (BWI airport) and Gary Wilkes (DCA airport) were interviewed along with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley.

We gave CBS an inside look at TSA’s new training for all officers designed to calm the checkpoint, better identify threats and improve security by changes in how officers engage passengers. Our officers appreciated the time spent talking with Ms. Stahl, and she was certainly surprised to learn that one of the strangest things officers had seen come through the X-ray machine was a baby in an infant carrier. (Seems some people take the “Never wake a sleeping baby” mantra a little too seriously.)

Ms. Stahl had access to the TSA Operations Center, also known as the Freedom Center. This is our main information center, where analysts monitor the entire transportation network and connect TSA with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, FBI, and other law enforcement and security agencies. It is the kind of place you would hope exists in the post 9/11 world.

During an airport visit, Ms. Stahl and Kip Hawley operated the multi-view X-ray machines at BWI and saw how the improved technology helps officers find suspect items by highlighting areas of concern on the screen. While in the remote viewing location for the whole body imager, Ms. Stahl was surprised to see that it was not the “pornographic” image she thought it would be.

The piece also includes Bruce Schneier, security expert (and blogger) who calls some of TSA’s measures “security theater.” We agree with Bruce’s comments in the piece about terrorists being able to change their tactics every time something is banned or receives added scrutiny (guns, box cutters, liquids, shoes, etc.). That’s why we’re using new officer training and technology to be more proactive and going after hostile intent through the use of Behavior Detection Officers. These officers are trained to look for involuntary behaviors people trying to evade security display and can distinguish them from the behaviors of the average frazzled passenger late for a flight.

We understand that some checkpoint security measures annoy many Americans, but because of the intelligence information gathered from around the world, TSA deems these measures are necessary. We appreciate any opportunity to highlight our officers, enhance public understanding about why we do what we do, and show what motivates us every day in order to keep air travel safe.

To see the 60 Minutes segment, click here.

Ellen Howe
Guest EoS Blogger