DHS Takes Steps To Shorten Security Lines
by Michele McDonaldPhoto: Youtube.
The Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to shorten the lines at airport security checkpoints, which have threatened to disrupt airline operations just as the summer travel season gets under way.
Airlines and airports got a preview of nightmare scenarios to come over spring break, when passengers stood in line at Transportation Security Administration at checkpoints for three hours or more at several airports, and many travelers missed their flights.
The TSA is increasing the staffing of screeners at airports that are expected to have the highest passenger volume, according to a statement by DHS Secretary Jeh C. Johnson.
The overall number of screeners was reduced by 10% over the past three years because the TSA overestimated the number of passengers who would enroll in Pre-Check, the program that allows eligible travelers to go through security without removing their shoes, laptops or liquids.
Johnson said the TSA has expanded outreach and enrollment efforts for Pre-Check, and he encouraged companies to reimburse employees who enroll in the program, as Microsoft has done.
The TSA is also increasing the number of canine teams as an additional measure to help expedite the screening process.
The agency also is working with airports and airlines to support non-security screening operations, such as returning bins to the front of waiting lines and other related tasks. And it is working with airlines and airport authorities and industry to develop airport-specific actions plans for the nation’s busiest airports.
Jeh said he has called on Congress to approve a reprogramming, or reallocation, of fiscal year 2016 funds to pay for overtime for screeners and to fulfill critical short-term needs. These funds will allow TSA to expand the work hours of screening officers in peak periods at high volume airports.
Roger Dow, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Travel Association, said he is grateful the issue is getting some attention, adding that “our greatest hope is that the process of sorting out TSA's issues not be chiefly characterized by a lot of finger-pointing. Some have blamed TSA’s problems on insufficient resources, while others have maintained TSA has simply not deployed its existing resources as efficiently as it could, but the winning approach is to look at how to do better on every side of the equation.”