DOT Pursues Security Goals

The U.S. Department of Transportation has hired McKinsey & Co. and enlisted the help of volunteer corporate executives to meet its deadline to screen every piece of baggage on commercial flights. Meanwhile, DOT secretary Norman Mineta expected to meet last Friday's deadline for bag matching, and acknowledged its impact on delays.

The costs for the vigorous new screening requirements will be defrayed by a new security surcharge that will begin to be levied at the end of next week.

Mineta's progress report marked the first deadline for initiatives developed by the new Transportation Security Administration and the first firm test of reform within the sprawling, continually-evolving security system at airports.

The requirement is one piece of the TSA strategy to meet a mandate in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that requires total checked baggage screening by Jan. 18. Mineta described a "full menu of options" that, taken together, will provide improved checked baggage security. In addition, every explosives detection system machine now at airports will be used to the maximum capacity, he said.

"We will continuously upgrade our screening capability, ultimately meeting the requirement that each checked bag be screened by an explosive detection system by the end of this year," Mineta said in an address to the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C.

In addition to McKinsey & Co., DOT has accepted offers of personnel on loan from such companies as Fluor, A.T. Kearney, Disney, Solectron, Marriott, Intel and FedEx. "These senior advisors will work side by side with members of our leadership team, for an average of six to nine months, to help design the processes and measurements that will comprise the work of TSA. They will help us to address questions like how to manage long lines of people efficiently, how to empower field offices in a distributed organization, how to best roll out new airport operations, and many more."

Baltimore-Washington International Airport, effective immediately, will be used by DOT as a test site for airport security operations, to try out TSA deployment techniques and technology and to begin to train senior managers for TSA. DOT "will deploy TSA with care, terminal-by-terminal, airport-by-airport," Mineta said. "At the peak this summer, we may well be managing some phase of the startup at over 100 airports simultaneously. Before year-end, we must have completed the transition to a full federal workforce at all 429 airports" covered in the aviation security law.

And traveling America will begin paying for it on Feb. 1, via a $2.50 per leg security surcharge on airline tickets. The fee will raise some $900 million annually in partial payment for TSA, funneling money toward screening advancements and equipment. "In just a few months, TSA will have hired tens of thousands of new employees to screen passengers and baggage at 429 airports nationwide," Mineta said. "We will have put in place employee background screening tools and will strengthen virtually every mode of transportation based on comprehensive security assessments."



Frequent flyers Beware

Though bags transferred to a connecting flight will not be subject to the matching requirement, under the new mandate, approximately 1 billion additional bags will need to be screened annually. Should the system not come together smoothly, travelers will see increased delays, lost baggage and other potential complications. Inevitably, at least, travelers can wave goodbye to certain airport assumptions, such as the ability to schedule tight connections.

"Fairly smooth is a bit strong, but we are pretty well ready for it," said American Airlines chairman and CEO Don Carty, referring to the deadline. "We and others in the industry are pretty familiar with doing positive bag matches because it has been part of international operations for some time. But expanding that to the entire network will require a lot more work and will be a lot more complex. It will be challenging and, on the first day, it will be a little less than perfect."

Moreover, travel managers added, travelers need to remember two words: Arrive early. "Chicago O'Hare is advising arriving there three hours ahead of time and other airports are advising two hours," said Theresa Asbery, corporate travel manager for Wal-Mart. "But what will have the biggest impact on our travelers is that even if they arrive early, they can't fly standby on an earlier flight."

Aviation consultant Michael Boyd agreed, saying, "Bag matching's net result will be fewer flights at hubs because airlines will need to extend the connecting times between flights to assure that passengers and bags are on the same plane. That will ultimately mean reductions in service, particularly to smaller, weaker markets."

Kathy Hall-Zientek, corporate travel manager at Moog Inc., advised employees to travel light and is awaiting feedback from travelers on how the changes will affect delays. "I've always defended the new security procedures, but they're not allowing enough time for these changes to be made at the airports," she said.

However, Mineta said DOT will continue its "zero tolerance" policy for airport security breaches. Though they've already resulted in numerous delays, "These evacuations reflect the heightened standards of our zero tolerance policy, and show FAA's willingness to take swift and immediate action to protect travelers against any and all breaches of security," he said. "That zero tolerance policy will continue."