Industry is being drafted in to help as the US government seems poised to admit that it will not, after all, be able to meet its year-end bag-screening deadlines
As the USA stumbles toward self-imposed airport security deadlines, more and more airports are coming forward to say that there is simply no way that they can meet the bag-screening deadlines.
And as it prepares for the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that set this entire process of mandated promises in motion, the government has just begun to offer the airport community a degree of flexibility over how it implements its goals. This move is viewed as a prelude towards an admission that the year-end demand for full baggage screening on sophisticated machines operated by well-trained federal employees is perhaps not feasible.
Part of the policy change is a turn to industry instead of government to provide a solution - estimated to cost $3 billion systemwide. Another change is the recent acknowledgement that it will be a daunting task for any entity, private or public. As Alexis Stefani, the assistant inspector general for auditing at the Department of Transportation (DoT), says, the amount of explosives detection equipment (EDS) needed to screen checked baggage at the 400-plus major US airports "is estimated to be at least three times the amount of equipment currently deployed at airports worldwide".
Some of the most respected airport directors have said it just will not happen, among them Leonard Griggs, head of St Louis Lambert Airport and Atlanta Hartsfield chief Ben DeCosta. The latter told a House panel visiting Atlanta that there simply is not enough time for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to get enough EDS in place by 31 December, given the rates of production by the two EDS manufacturers.
At least 1,100 machines are needed under the law Congress passed last November, but the security agency will get only 700 machines by the December deadline, according to a congressman on the aviation subcommittee who was at a closed-door TSA briefing. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, said that the TSA has been told privately machines would not be delivered to the airports in time to meet a year-end deadline.
That raises the likelihood of more time-consuming hand-searches of luggage this winter. More baggage will have to be opened at the ticket counter and either hand-searched or swabbed with devices that screen for traces of explosives. Griggs of St Louis also warned that the current deadline will end up causing long lines at the ticket counters, snaking out to the kerb, adding: "I don't want people out in the cold in the middle of winter." He insists that airports are safer than they have ever been and says the deadline can be rolled back a year without sacrificing passenger security.
Change of tack
The rising chorus may make administrative flexibility a necessity rather than a virtue. After the sudden dismissal of Transportation Security Administrator John Magaw, US officials began to show signs of yielding on the year-end security deadlines much opposed by airports and airlines. Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta, who fired Magaw on 19 July, has begun saying that the year-end deadline for full baggage screening can be met but only at the cost of long queues and delays at airports. That represents a change from Mineta's earlier insistence that all deadlines had to be met and that passengers would still receive high levels of service with security caused waits of about 10 minutes.
But the surest sign of change come as TSA officials have begun to spread out across the country to let the news come out in dribs and drabs. At a field hearing in Atlanta, the TSA said: "We are now undertaking a fundamental re-evaluation of our business plan." At a similar hearing for Los Angeles politicians, the agency admitted it was in the midst of "a reassessment of the roll-out strategy".
Now Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says that he favours giving airports more time to install EDS. Ridge told reporters that the size and complexity of the machines makes it unlikely that the original deadline will be met. While not widely publicised, Ridge's new stance is a major change, and a major boost to the airports, according to Kevin Cox, senior executive vice-president at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The TSA is set to become part of the proposed new Homeland Security Department and the screening deadlines could be changed when the Congress returns in September to take up the massive legislation to create the new agency, whether or not Ridge heads it.
But for now, it is the private sector that is taking the lead. Boeing and Raytheon are aggressively positioning themselves to offer their systems integration skills into the security co-ordination effort, and Raytheon announced at the Farnborough air show that it had established a new business unit dedicated to the whole area of homeland security. Similarly, Lockheed Martin already has won some TSA work and Boeing has set out its own ambitious goals.
Large-scale information technology service providers such as SITA are already making progress. SITA's president for the Americas, Dan Ebbinghaus, says he sees opportunities not just at hubs but also at smaller US airports, with a need for action at "the second and third tier airports as well as the majors". SITA's real expertise is in passenger processing, handling and facilitation, areas on which the TSA has just begin to focus.
Do-able after all?
For its part, Boeing insists that it can meet the December screening deadline despite serious objections from US airlines and airports. In June, the TSA gave Boeing a $508 million contract to install EDS and explosive trace detection (ETD) devices in 438 US airports. The contract, on which Siemens joins Boeing, has $862 million in annual options through the end of 2007. Boeing will also train as many as 30,000 US federal employees to operate the equipment.
Boeing's general manager for homeland security-related projects, Rick Stephens, conceded at Farnborough that "there is no question that this is a challenge". But he adds: "We are very much committed to making it happen. We have a roll-out plan for meeting the deadline at all 438 airports." The Boeing unit is still conducting site analyses at airports throughout the country, while Lockheed Martin is designing and configuring the security checkpoints.
Stephens says that he has spoken personally with numerous airline and airport executives, and that many of them say they support the December deadline. He says Boeing ultimately agrees with most airport managers that the best solution is to install "in-line" EDS equipment, where bags are screened as they pass through the existing baggage handling systems. But until that can be achieved, he favours placing EDS and ETD equipment in airport lobbies.
But Stephens admits he has "not spoken with the most vocal critics". Airports, he says, "want to have their voices heard" on security issues, but have previously been left out of the debate. That will change, he pledges, because "we fully understand that all stakeholders must be taken into account".
Boeing remains confident it will all work out according to plan. "One reason we got this contract," Stephens says, "is that we convinced [the government] we could meet the date and not train-wreck the system". With the company on board, he adds, the aviation industry now has "somebody to talk to".
Given its experience dealing with hard-to-please airline customers, it may have been the right choice, after all.
REPORT BY DAVID FIELD IN WASHINGTON AND LONDON
Source: Airline Business
