Traveling Quickly but Safely This Summer
Posted on May 07, 2015
Curious how to pack for your next trip, or how to get into one of those TSA Pre ✔TM lines at the airport? For National Travel and Tourism Week, today’s WatchBlog highlights our recent reports on Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security efforts that could affect your airport experience.
More Passengers Getting Expedited Screening at Airports
We recently testified on 2 programs that may speed your way through airport screening:
- TSA Pre✔TM allows passengers who are designated as low-risk to enjoy expedited screening—specifically, not having to remove their shoes, light outerwear, jackets, or belts, or not having to remove liquids, gels, or laptops from their carry-on bags for X-ray screening.
(Excerpted from GAO-15-150)
- TSA’s Managed Inclusion process randomly selects passengers who are not otherwise identified as high- or low-risk before their arrival at the airport to receive expedited screening using added layers of security, such as canine teams, behavioral detection officers, and explosives trace detection devices.
(Excerpted from GAO-15-465T)
We have found problems with TSA’s evaluation of some expedited screening programs. TSA has evaluated the security effectiveness of some parts of the Managed Inclusion process, and plans to evaluate the system as a whole. When we have reviewed its past evaluations, we have found that- TSA had not demonstrated that using behavioral indicators can reliably and effectively identify passengers who may pose a threat to aviation security, and
- TSA did not design suitable studies to test security effectiveness of its behavior detection programs, such as by ensuring adequate sample sizes or randomly selecting items in a study to ensure generalizable results.
- Sharp objects
- Sporting goods
- Guns and firearms
- Martial arts and self-defense items
- Tools
- Explosive materials
- Flammable items
- Disabling chemicals and other dangerous items
- Other items such as gel-type candles, flammable liquid, gel, or aerosol
- Questions on the content of this post? Contact Jennifer Grover at groverj@gao.gov.
- Comments on GAO’s WatchBlog? Contact blog@gao.gov.