Airports’ 5 Goals for TSA’s Pistole

ACI-NA President Greg Principato, one of the transportation experts on the NationalJournal.com’s Transportation Blog, on posted Monday morning the airport industry’s five goals for the new TSA Administrator John Pistole.

Here is part of that blog posting:

TSA Administrator John S. Pistole

It is safe to say that there are few more challenging jobs in government than running the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). That is what I told John Pistole when we talked last week and I commend him for reaching out to airports. Over the years, as TSA evolved, the relationship and coordination with industry has improved significantly. Recent events have proven that government and industry must continue to work together to combat the threat of terrorism. Below are some opportunities to further enhance our very positive relationship:

1. Coordinate security initiatives, including new security requirements, with airports. This is critically important as the lion’s share of aviation security is conducted at airports. In so doing, we can increase the chance of success of new efforts. When we have a good level of coordination – such when we collectively responded to the August 2006 explosives plot – it helps prevent further problems down the line. Although the issuance of security directives in that instance was appropriate, it was done with ample industry coordination. However, that has not always been the case and security directives have been used when a rulemaking or another proposed regulatory change would have been more appropriate, and ensured more industry input. These incidents have declined in recent months, which is a good thing and for which I commend TSA.

View the rest of the blog.