We’re close to having TSA, OFPP leaders confirmed
November 19th, 2009 | Agencies Congress Homeland Security OMB | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Two critical federal leadership positions may soon be filled.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has unanimously approved Erroll Southers as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and Daniel Gordon as administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The committee approved both nominations by voice vote Nov. 19.
It’s unclear whether the Senate will vote on these, or any other nominations, before it recesses sometime next week for Thanksgiving. Both nominees are considered non controversial.
One step closer to OFPP, TSA administrators
November 3rd, 2009 | Congress Homeland Security OMB Procurement Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Office of Management and Budget’s prospective procurement policy chief, Daniel Gordon, will face his first confirmation hurdle one week from today.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will quiz Gordon on his vision for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at 10 a.m. on Nov. 10. Gordon is slated to have his confirmation quiz alongside the president’s choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration, Erroll Southers.
Check in with FedLine and FederalTimes.com that day for complete coverage.
Tags: Daniel Gordon, Erroll Southers, OFPP, TSA
TSA screeners could move back to General Schedule
July 7th, 2009 | Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Steve Losey
The House Homeland Security Committee plans to mark up a bill on Thursday that would kill the Transportation Security Administration’s Performance Accountability and Standards System. In its place, HR 1881 would move roughly 45,000 screeners to the General Schedule system most federal employees are currently under.
Unions criticize the PASS pay-for-performance system as unfair, and say it is driving many screeners to leave TSA.
The bill would also grant collective bargaining rights to screeners, also known as transportation security officers. This would likely set off a battle between the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union to formally represent TSA. Unions are already jockeying for position to prepare for this vote.
Matt Dennis, a spokesman for Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said he’s optimistic that the bill will come for a vote before the full House. But Dennis was far from certain, and acknowledged that it’s hard to predict what will happen before Congress takes a recess later this summer. The bill now has no Senate companion.
Tags: General Schedule, PASS, screeners, TSA
House approves TSA bill, amendment
June 4th, 2009 | Congress Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The House adopted an amendment to the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act to allow TSA employees to voluntarily wear protective equipment during a public health emergency.
The House passed the amendment by voice vote Thursday during floor debate on the bill, HR 2200. The House later passed the bill 397-25.
The amendment, offered by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., would allow workers to wear surgical and N95 masks and gloves and use hand sanitizer during an emergency. The amendment was spurred by departmental reactions to the recent H1N1 flu outbreak.
Unions pushed the Homeland Security Department to allow TSA and Customs and Border Protection employees to wear masks and gloves and use hand sanitizers during this spring’s swine flu outbreak.
Anecdotal stories showed some employees were told to take off masks and gloves when the outbreak started in mid-April; DHS issued guidance allowing employees to wear masks at the end of April.
No vote has been scheduled yet in the Senate on HR 2200.
Mule Skinner Blues
February 27th, 2009 | Homeland Security | Posted by Steve Losey
The new face of terror?
Say what you will about the Transportation Security Administration, at least they’re being thorough this time. CNN says TSA is requiring some colonial reenactors at an Easton, Pa., historical park to undergo background checks and apply for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential card.
These mule skinners regularly guide two mules named Hank and George as they pull a boat down a two-mile canal at the Hugh Moore Historical Park. Usually only transportation workers such as longshoremen or truck drives are required to apply for TWIC cards, but since the mule skinners hold Coast Guard credentials to operate the canal boat, TSA says they need a TWIC card as well.
Park officials say that’s ridiculous, since the boat travels at 2 miles an hour at best and is an unlikely terror target. They also say TWIC cards will cost the park $100 apiece. And Congress is starting to take notice: Rep. Charles Dent, R-Pa., grilled new Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the mule skinners at a hearing on Wednesday. Napolitano said TSA would try to be flexible.
‘Now Hank and George, while sometimes are ornery, they are not terrorists,’ Dent said.
But maybe that’s just what they want us to think…
Tags: Congress, Janet Napolitano, Transportation Worker Identification Credential, TSA
Should TSA use private screeners?
February 9th, 2009 | Homeland Security | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Government Accountability Office is warning the Transportation Security Administration that the agency’s 2007 study on the efficiency and effectiveness of private screeners doesn’t tell the whole story.
In 2007, TSA studied the cost, wait time in security lines, customer satisfaction, threat detection capabilities and recertification test passage rates of private security screeners at six of the nation’s airports and compared the results to federal screeners.
A newly released GAO report reviews a TSA assessment of cost savings and performance of private screeners and found the agency didn’t account for all costs in its study, which found private screeners were equal to or better than federal screeners in terms of cost and performance.
Among the costs TSA didn’t account for:
- overlapping administrative staffs in the cost of airports participating in the Screening Partnership Program, which allows private-sector screeners to screen luggage at six commercial airports.Â
- lost tax revenues when private screeners were converted to federal screeners.
TSA also did not conduct a statistical assessment of the reliability of the data used in the report, which was conducted by a contractor in 2007.
Senate stimulus: Fewer funds for feds
February 9th, 2009 | Agencies Economic Stimulus | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
A group of Republican and Democratic senators trimmed nearly $100 billion from the economic stimulus package over the last few days. Most economists say the cuts are a bad idea, because the smaller the stimulus bill, the less stimulative its effect on the economy. (Think of driving up an icy hill: If you’re not going fast enough, you slide back down.)
Federal managers might not like the cuts, either: The revised Senate stimulus plan eliminates billions of dollars that were allocated for federal agencies.
One of the biggest cuts will hurt the General Services Administration. The House stimulus bill gives GSA almost $7 billion to make federal buildings more energy-efficient. The Senate version cuts that in half — to $3.5 billion.
Other items cut from the Senate plan:
- $122 million for the Coast Guard’s new polar icebreakers;
- $200 million for new screening equipment for the Transportation Security Administration;
- $75 million from the Smithsonian, which the institution would have used for capital improvements (the House bill included $150 million);
- $200 million for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program;
- $200 million for the National Science Foundation;
- $1 billion for Head Start.
Tags: Coast Guard, GSA, Smithsonian, stimulus, TSA
Full-sized liquids on planes in 2009?
October 28th, 2008 | Federal Travel | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Yes, business travelers, you may be able to start carrying on full-sized toothpastes and shampoos when you fly in 2009.
That’s according to the Transportation Security Administration, which says it’s working to beef up screening processes and speed up airport security lines. Current regulations ban carrying on most liquids, gels and aerosols in containers larger than 3 ounces.
A TSA official told USA Today that the restrictions could be lifted in 2009, though travelers would still need to put any liquid or gel containers in a separate bag for X-ray machines. By 2010, passengers may even be able to keep those liquids in their carry-on bags during the screening process. Better machines are being developed that can differentiate between dangerous chemicals and harmless styling products.
So, when the airlines lose your luggage (that you’ve paid extra to check), at least you’ll have plenty of your own shampoo and toothpaste.
To read the full USA Today story, click here.
Tags: TSA