Aviation securityTSA will not expand private screening at airports

Private screeners must follow TSA procedures // Source: annarbor.com

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided not to expand a program that would allow airports to replace government screeners with private screeners.

The news comes a month after the agency said it was “neutral” on the program. The screening program became popular following the uproar over enhanced security pat-downs, which some travelers found intrusive.

In a statement, TSA Administrator John Pistole said he “examined the contractor screening program and decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports as I do not see any clear or substantial advantage to do so at this time.”

Fox News reports that private screening companies which are currently contracted in airports around the country are chosen, supervised, and paid for by TSA.

Representative John Mica (R-Florida), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, slammed the TSA for its decision, saying he plans to launch an investigation and that “nearly every positive security innovation since the beginning of TSA has come from the contractor screening program.”

“It’s unimaginable that TSA would suspend the most successfully performing passenger screening program we’ve had over the last decade. The agency should concentrate on cutting some of the more than 3,700 administrative personnel in Washington who concocted this decision, and reduce the army of TSA employees that has ballooned to more than 62,000,” Mica added.