Transportation Security Administration
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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001. The TSA was originally organized in the U.S. Department of Transportation but was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
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Circumstances of Creation and Purpose
The agency was created in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Before its creation, security checkpoints were operated by private companies which had contracts with either:
- an airline (in cases where the terminal was owned by an airline)
- a terminal company (in cases where the terminal was privately owned)
- an airport operator (in cases where the terminal was operated by a government agency).
The main complaint about private checkpoints was the fact that staff were undertrained and had poor working conditions.[citation needed] Furthermore they did not have a police training or supervision. With the arrival of TSA, private checkpoints have not disappeared altogether. In the cities of San Francisco, CA; Kansas City, Mo.; Rochester, N.Y.; Tupelo, Miss.; and Jackson, Wyo. private security firms have been approved by the TSA to provide security.
The organization was charged, in the midst of much confusion over appropriate safety procedures, with developing policies to ensure the safety of U.S. air traffic and other forms of transportation. Airport security and the prevention of aircraft hijacking are integral parts of the TSA mission, though it's widely debated that the TSA actually improves these areas. The TSA oversaw the Federal Air Marshal Service until December 1, 2003 when the program was officially transferred to the authority of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the U.S. government's 2006 fiscal year, the Federal Air Marshal Program was transferred back to the TSA.
Leadership
- Edmund "Kip" Hawley - Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for the TSA
- Robert Jamison - Deputy Administrator
Criticism
There have been numerous criticisms of the TSA, including but not limited to:
- Numerous invasion of privacy complaints
- Widespread theft by its employees of airline passenger possessions [1] [2] [3] [4]
- Lavish spending by TSA officials on events unrelated to airport security [5]
- Dictatorial bullying and unnecessary delaying of passengers [6]
External links
Original article / information obtained (seeded) from Wikipedia [3]