1115.org

After the events of September 11, the shortcomings of our airport security procedures became a national issue. Many airport screeners were being paid wages on the level of your average Starbucks employee, and employee turnover was rampant. Private security firms landed airport contracts not for safety, but because they were able to place a lower bid than their competitors.

In the furor that followed the 9/11 tragedy, the federal government created the Transportation Security Administration, which among other things was charged with federalizing airport screeners and implementing new security procedures. So far, results haven’t been promising; according to people within Homeland Security, the federalized screeners are performing at a level consistent with the old private firms. Of course, the response was predictable.

Mica and other Republicans, who were never entirely comfortable with creating a new bureaucracy, want to return all airport security screener jobs to the private sector, where they were before September 11, 2001. If so, the federal screeners would get the first opportunity to apply for the private jobs.

Mica argues that private companies will do a better, more efficient job at the screening that currently is the TSA’s primary function.

So let’s get this straight. Lax airport security, provided by private companies, may have contributed to September 11. And to fix the problem, the solution is…handing the responsibilities back to private companies? Even if the federal system needs improving (which it does), the answer is more resources and better training—not turning our backs on the problems and returning to the policies of September 10, 2001.