The mission of the TSA is to protect the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. As a TSO or a Transportation Security Officer, I see daily what the emerging threats are and what we are looking for. TSO's are part of the tenth layer of aviation security and they are one of the most hands on in terms of operation wise. As a TSO you must understand that the threat can walk right through the door at any given time. With that being said, TSOs must also be confident in the system set up to terminate that threat.
When I think of an emerging threat it is hard not to think of SSI(secret sensitive information), this type of information is divulged on a need to know bases and I cannot discuss it, but one thing that is public know that comes to mind is the emerging homeland and insider threat. The insider threat is one of the most unexpected. The trust that is put into those who work at airports is justified yet everyone must be monitored. There have been a plethora of instances where airport employees with high access SIDA badges have broken that trust and used their privilege for evil. A more recent example of insider threat was the incident of an American Airlines employee causing the grounding of an aircraft after he disabled the navigation system.
So what is being done about this threat. Earlier this year the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security conducted covert testing at airports around the U.S. in order to gain data and recommend mitigation methods in relation to insider threat. Some of the recommendations based off of the findings have already begun implementation. There are six recommendations in total and in my opinion I believe the recommendations will only make employees weary more than anything. The recommendations included implementation of random screening and bag checks of employees(currently all employee bags must go through X-ray), While these mitigation methods have yet proven to be effective, I believe they are a strong step in the right direction.
References:
Vigdor, N. (2019, September 6). American Airlines Mechanic Arrested on Sabotage Charge After Grounding Flight. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/american-airlines-mechanic-sabotage.html.
Padilla, P., Dudley, Cheryl, Yost, M., Johnson, D., Roth, R., … Anonymous. (2019, July 15). Inside Look: TSA Layers of Security. Retrieved from https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2017/08/01/inside-look-tsa-layers-security.
Covert Testing of Access Controls to Secure Airport Areas. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/2019/covert-testing-access-controls-secure-airport-areas/oig-19-21-feb19.
Nyczepir, D. (2019, September 11). TSA moving forward with airport screening system deployment. Retrieved from https://www.fedscoop.com/tsa-airport-screening-machine-deployment/.
Dni.gov. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.dni.gov/files/PE/Documents/4---2017-AEP_Aviation-Insider-Paper.pdf [Accessed 5 Oct. 2019].
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