The Transportation Security Agency (TSA)

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I. Summary Formed by Public Law 107–71 on November 19, 2001 a mere two months after the coordinated attacks of September 11th, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is an organization charged with maintaining security of the nation’s transportation system. Originally structured under the Department of Transportation (DOT) and later under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the TSA is responsible for the security of civil aviation to include research and design as well as other modes of transportation that are governed by the DOT (Public Law 107–71, 2001). Aviation facility screening and security can be directly provided and supervised by the TSA or privately contracted in accordance with §44919 (Public Law 107–71, 2001). II. Problem …show more content…

Title 49 § 44919, 2001). This leads logically to the question of whether a private security firm is equally effective at incident prevention as a TSA administered program. III. Significance of the Problem Over 3,000 dead, two skyscrapers in the middle of New York City destroyed along with a portion of the Pentagon, and four airliners crashed by an attacking force of only 19 militant Islamic radicals (9-11 Attacks, n.d.). The results of that day illustrate how important it is to secure our airports and ensure that passengers are being adequately screened to prevent any further attacks using such devastating tactics. It is therefore imperative that each airport facility managers analyses their airport’s situation and makes the best decision for its safety and security. IV. Development of Alternative …show more content…

When an airport submits to the TSA its request to transition to private security it can only make requests for specific providers. The TSA makes the final decision and awards the contract to the company it chooses and oversees (Korth, 2012). This allows the possibility of undue influence in the bidding process and also creating an entity similar to the TSA in size and scope with no real difference between the two. As private corporations grow they become less and less flexible and with the TSA making the decisions regarding the individual contracts that is a door that could be easily opened for abuse by a system with a dismal track record of public

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