Aviation Security: TSA Has Taken Steps to Enhance Its Foreign Airport Assessments, but Opportunities Exist to Strengthen the Program
GAO-12-163
Published: Oct 21, 2011. Publicly Released: Oct 31, 2011.
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Highlights
International flights bound for the United States continue to be targets of terrorist activity, as demonstrated by the October 2010 discovery of explosive devices in air cargo packages bound for the United States from Yemen. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for securing the nation's civil aviation system, which includes ensuring the security of U.S.-bound flights. As requested, GAO evaluated (1) the steps TSA has taken to enhance its foreign airport assessment program since 2007, and any remaining program challenges; (2) TSA's assessment results, including how TSA uses the results to guide future efforts; and (3) what opportunities, if any, exist to enhance the program. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed foreign airport assessment procedures and results, interviewed TSA and foreign aviation security officials, and observed TSA conduct a foreign airport assessment. While these interviews and observations are not generalizable, they provided insights on TSA's program. This is the public version of a sensitive report GAO issued in September, 2011. Information that TSA deemed sensitive has been omitted.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Homeland Security | To help further enhance TSA's foreign airport assessment program, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration to develop a mechanism to evaluate the results of completed assessment activities to determine any trends and target future activities and resources. This evaluation could include frequency of noncompliance issues, regional variations, and perspectives on the security posture of individual airports over time. | In response to our recommendation that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) develop a mechanism to evaluate the results of completed foreign airport assessment activities to determine any trends and better target activities and resources, TSA created an analytical tool that compares the most current airport vulnerability findings by region (Asia Pacific, Western Hemisphere, and Africa and the Middle East), including evaluating the frequency of noncompliance issues identified by TSA inspectors. For example, TSA?s analytical tool provides results on all foreign airport assessments TSA has completed since 2007, and allows TSA to evaluate and compare individual airports... assessment results over time to identify any trends. It also provides break outs on the number of airport assessments TSA has completed within each geographic region, and provides an average vulnerability rating for each airport within each region allowing TSA to evaluate which regions are generally more or less vulnerable than others in terms of airport security. The tool also provides information on which specific airport security standards are most frequently found to have deficiencies by TSA inspectors, including breakouts by region allowing TSA to evaluate and compare which standards are more and less frequently found to be deficient within each region. We are therefore closing this recommendation as implemented.
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| Department of Homeland Security | To help further enhance TSA's foreign airport assessment program, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration to establish criteria and guidance to assist TSA decision makers when determining the vulnerability rating of individual foreign airports. | In response to our recommendation that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) develop criteria and guidance to better assist TSA officials in determining vulnerability ratings of individual foreign airports, TSA established new vulnerability rating criteria and guidance in January 2013. More specifically, TSA assigns each airport an overall vulnerability score of 1-5. These scores, or categories, are numerical representations of compliance or noncompliance with the security standards the agency assesses each foreign airport against. Prior to January 2013, Category 1 = Fully Compliant; Category 2 = Capability Exists with Minor Episodes of Noncompliance; Category 3 = Capability...
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| Department of Homeland Security | To help further enhance TSA's foreign airport assessment program, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration to consider the feasibility of conducting more targeted assessments and systematically compiling information on aviation security best practices. | In response to our recommendation that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) consider the feasibility of conducting more targeted assessments and systematically compiling information on aviation security best practices, TSA has taken several actions. Specifically, TSA developed the Pre-Visit Questionnaire (PVQ), which host foreign airport officials fill out prior to TSA's visit. Specifically, the PVQ is sent to the host government about two months prior to the assessment in order to provide host government officials time to complete and return the questionnaire. This information enables each TSA foreign airport assessment team to tailor the on-site assessment at each airport...
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