Story Of The Week: Five Good Questions With TSA's Kip Hawley

The Jan. 30 edition of Aviation Daily's Airports includes an interview (see here for free) I did with Kip Hawley, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). He launched a new regular feature in Airports I'm calling "Five Good Questions."  I've been a subscriber to Time magazine (thanks Dad) since the age of seven, and I always enjoy the 10 Good Questions feature, so consider this an homage to the magazine.

In Five Good Questions, I plan to interview an industry newsmaker about current issues and events.  On the one hand, I was happy to get access to the Administrator.  But a tiny part of me was a bit wary, because having been on the PR side of the house, I know how the top leaders in companies, organizations and government agencies can be a bit programmed.  But with everything that will be coming up in the FAA reauthorization bill concerning airports, I thought it was important to have Hawley on the record for key issues.

Hawley has served as administrator since July 27, 2005. He brings more than 20 years of transportation and technology experience to TSA, now part of the Dept. of Homeland Security, with security responsibilities across all modes of transportation.  The interview is below.

AD: Why has it taken TSA so long to cull the No-Fly List?

Kip Hawley: I don't think it's taken long at all. What has happened was that extra resources were needed by the terror screening agencies that are given to TSA to nominate people to the list. They all review who they have on their lists. What we do is provide support to expedite the list. It's an ongoing process and we're having a milestone of a review next month to reduce it by half. We recognize that Secure Flight needs to go out as soon as possible. We want to make the list as small as possible to ease the concerns of those who are on the list and shouldn't be. We're also reviewing the process to check the review of people with similar names of those on the list.

AD: A complaint from travelers and airports is a perceived inconsistency about what TSA policy is with issues such as acceptable and unacceptable liquids or the situation in Cleveland over whether pies were considered a liquid. What processes does TSA have in place to make sure that security regulations are implemented uniformly across the country?

KH: Thanksgiving is a good example. At [the pre-holiday] press conference [in November], we all would have been delighted to go forward in a time machine to see that the system worked well (AVIATION DAILY, Nov. 20, subscribers only). Anytime we make changes, it takes a month for preparation. We made a number of changes because of the threat level [moving up] in August. We handled more than 20 million people [over Thanksgiving] and we had one location that incorrectly assessed the situation. It made for an interesting blog sound bite, but in Cleveland, there was a concern but it was quickly fixed. We are running operations all over [the] world around the clock and sometimes people interpret regulations incorrectly. We say let's be clear about the rules and get them across the system and then give them time to get in place. As you could see after Aug. 10, TSA, airports and the public are adept at making changes when we need to.

AD: Funding inline baggage screening systems has been a worry for airports. TSA's FY2007 budget included $202 million for the purchase and installation of these systems, and airports have also had access to Other Transactional Agreements. What is the status of TSA funding for these systems?

KH: TSA continues to support the acquisition and installation of explosive detection system machines. The problem area is in the construction related to inline systems. The purchase of the EDS machines is well funded. The industry and TSA agree that the financial model for integrated systems isn't complete. We had a productive work group [on inline systems] last year with industry participants (AVIATION DAILY, Sept. 14, subscribers only). We all acknowledge a shared responsibility and all realistically know that appropriation dollars to fund the entire need are not there. But we're doing good work with Congress to come up with a system where everyone contributes to the solution.

AD: Why did TSA decide to focus the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program on port workers before airport and airline workers?

KH: We made it a priority for port workers because nothing was being done at the federal level for ports. Airports and airlines have done a lot of work to make security better. The only piece missing is a biometric measure on [Security Identification Display Area] SIDA badges.

AD: The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security came out with a list of its accomplishments in 2006, which included some of TSA efforts during the year. You have to grade TSA's performance in 2006. What would that grade be and why?

KH: I'd prefer to go with a grade point average. TSA has so many interactions with the public that in some areas we get an A, and in some areas we need improvement. We're using more metrics to help managers manage with data. On the effort and commitment side, I give us an A in terms of how our work force and partners were able to react to the events of Aug. 10 the way they did. A plan was put together overnight as a team and went into effect quickly. It was an extraordinary accomplishment. It gives us confidence that as we all mature together, the system is secure and flexible enough to maintain security no matter what the threat.