TSA Works with Airlines to Deliver Security
News & Happenings
September 14, 2007
Airplanes from four different airlines at
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Planes from two of America’s iconic commercial airlines, United and American, were used by terrorists for the attacks of September 11, 2001, with a huge loss of life. The commercial airline industry is expected to finally recover this year from the resulting lag in public confidence.
TSA was created in response to those attacks and immediately began partnering with the nation’s commercial airlines to combat terrorist threats. In late 2005 the agency reorganized TSNM to include the Commercial Airlines Division.
"We use a risk-based approach to security," said David Bernier, a retired US Airways executive with 33 years of airline industry experience who heads the division. "With that approach, and working closely with our industry partners, we meet our security goals and the airlines meet their business objectives."
The division’s focus for domestic commercial airlines – with 100 carriers transporting nearly 700 million passengers a year – is on ensuring each airline follows the Aircraft Operators Standard Security Program (AOSSP). Other major objectives of the division are industry interface and stakeholder communication.
TSA concentrates its AOSSP compliance efforts on two levels – local and corporate. At the local level, transportation security inspectors inspect all components of an airline’s operations, including aircraft, personnel and watch list procedures.
At the corporate level, TSA’s principal security inspectors (PSIs) ensure that every carrier is in system-wide compliance with applicable aviation security regulations. PSIs periodically inspect the aircraft operators’ security operations and facilities. Also at the corporate level, through the division’s Threat, Vulnerability, and Consequence Program office, TSA effectively transfers intelligence to airline carriers.
The division also works effectively with industry groups – aviation associations, business groups and labor unions – through its stakeholder program office. On a regular basis, the division pulls together industry working groups and participates in association meetings to discuss issues ranging from fake boarding passes to aircraft compartment searches.
TSA also partners with federal agencies on the Aviation Government Coordinating Council (AGCC) – a newly established consortium chaired by Bernier. The AGCC fosters communication across and between the government and private industry and is currently working on implementation of the National Strategy for Aviation Security, which aligns the federal government's aviation security programs into a cohesive national effort to influence future aviation security activities.
