Transportation Security Administration in Defense of the National Aviation Infrastructure

The Transportation Security Administration rapidly fielded over 28,000 Transportation Security Officers following the attacks of September 11th, 2001. These individuals received very little training and a minimal level of security screening before being deployed throughout the nation's airports due to a lack of established process or doctrine. After eight years and billions of dollars in expenditures we still find serious breeches within our airport security. Even though we arm the security officers with the latest technology evidence suggests the officers lack doctrine, adequate training, sufficient oversight and overall lack a professional code of ethics. In some cases the TSOs are the perpetrators of crimes and become the threat to airline passengers. This paper examines these security issues and provides recommendations on how to improve the security within our airline infrastructure.