U.S.A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (Essay Sample)

U.S.A Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Author
Institution
U.S.A Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc459651529 \h 2Competency PAGEREF _Toc459651530 \h 3Findings of a professional Interview with an Inspector General; Department Of Homeland Security PAGEREF _Toc459651531 \h 4Evaluation/ Discussion of the Findings PAGEREF _Toc459651532 \h 7Recommendations/Goal and Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc459651533 \h 8References PAGEREF _Toc459651534 \h 9
Introduction
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in November 2001 under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act within the Department of Transportation after the terrorist attack in 2001( Jones, 2009). The attack necessitated the Congress and the George W. Bush authority to act swiftly to bolster government expenditure on aviation security and to nationalize the previously private airport screening. Without any delay and a comprehensive scrutiny of the pros and cons of a national administration takeover of air transport management, the Senate voted solidly to federalize airport security just one month after the November 2001 attack. The key role of TSA was set as enhancement of air safety through screening of all commercial airline passengers and checking of baggage; responsibilities that had initially been designated to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until 2001. Equally, TSA was also required to oversee the security of highways, pipelines, transits and rails.
Chris (2012), estimates that presently, TSA has a workforce totalling to 62,000 and operates on an annual budget of about $7.9 billion. The agency nowadays spearheads security screening at over 450 commercial airports across the United States. In addition, the agency also analyses intelligence data, runs the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), and has continued supervising the security of transit, highways, rail, and pipelines. Despite the nationalization of aviation security in meeting the above-outlined responsibilities, TSA performance has been discredited by many and termed no better than the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) due to alarming and rising issues of security mishaps, mismanagement of the security agency and dubious investments (United States, 2011). This area of criminal study is interesting at an individual level since I want to understand how the creation of partnerships with the TSA and private companies for passenger and baggage screening could help the government to create a more efficient and innovative security structure across the nation and allow it to focus on gathering intelligence.
Competency
Like any other security organ in the United States, TSA is a substantial security agency and thus any individual aspiring to work it needs to meet several competencies. Primarily and other than being a citizen of the United States and in possession of the necessary academic qualifications, any individual that is aspiring to work with TSA is expected to show patriotism in the service of the TSA, nation and the public (Chris,2012). Like all members of the armed forces of America and civil, all incoming employees of TSA are required to take an oath upon entering the office to defend and support the American Constitution as well as to discharge the duties of the office faithfully. Notably, despite the men and women of TSA being required to every day execute challenging tasks under tough circumstances express, they have an obligation to retain their expression of passion and patriotism for the designated works. Anyone seeking to work with TSA is also required to show the sense of accountability for all the assigned responsibilities (United States, 2012). Accountability is a significant theme TSA operations at any level and includes aspects such as accountability to the America Constitution, accountability to TSA oath of office; accountability to the American people by effectively performing the assigned jobs and responsibility to essential ethical, moral and legal standards of the United States.
Any potential candidate of TSA is fundamentally required to be amiable either at the workplace or when serving the public. Typically, the TSA advocates a culture of inclusivity for all its workforce by enhancing flexibility and fairness of individuals and internal collaboration of all persons which creates an environment that enables people to operate at their optimal potential. Equally, potential candidates of TSA are required to have no past criminal record. TSA’s recruitment and hiring policy frequently aims at selecting the best and available persons to support the demands of a dynamic and risk prone career (United States, 2011). TSA subjects each potential candidate for hire to a vigorous background check which involves criminal history records check and vetting against terrorist watch lists. Lastly, TSA requires it potential candidates to be ambitious and thirst of excelling in all areas. Usually, all TSA’s personnel that are employed to work across the different duty stations of the agency and that are geographically dispersed are required to pass an assessment exercise successfully to certify that they meet the requirements of TSA as pointed out in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.
Findings of a professional Interview with an Inspector General; Department Of Homeland Security
To understand the nature of work of TSA in the United States, an Inspector General of Homeland Security was approached for a comprehensive coverage of the subject topic. Several aspects that closely relate to the TSA functions and responsibilities were noted. Before this, the Inspector General stated that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) strived to enhance security in transportation systems in the United States by deploying a team of skilled, dedicated, effective counterterrorism and professional workforce (David, 2008). The Inspector General elaborated that the TSA’s mission is to safeguard the nation’s transportation systems and facilitation of movement for people and commerce. Most importantly, it was mandatory for any potential TSA’s candidate to express loyalty and patriotism and utmost dedication to protecting the Constitution of the United States regardless of the probable challenges in the dynamic environment (United States, 2011). The Inspector General was adamant to claim that the agency faced increased threats and attacks from unwavering enemies and evolving terrorist groups around the globe. As a result, he stated that during his time of service, he witnessed men and women in uniform; from frontline officers to the most senior leaders honorably serving the United States while executing the TSA’s counterterrorism mission.
Integrity also emerged as a vital feature that any TSA’s worker need to exhibit while participating in day-to-day activities of the security agency. Clearly, all TSA’s employees are aware of the duty to the mission as a fundamental of service at individual levels and for the committed civil servants and military members, they are entrusted to serve. Consequently, TSA employees are required to remain accountable to TSA working and ethical standards (United States, 2011). In so doing, they are supposed selflessly to meet the demands of duty to a mission and the general public. A good example that surfaced which integrity is clearly emphasized is during the recruitment process. The TSA employs a diverse personnel with a range of talents meant for handling different environments. To ensure this, TSA spearheaded a fair and open recruitment which sieved only the finest talent, and innovative future employees. By extension, integrity and helps TSA to select the best available persons to counter the terrors' threats. Evidently, these individuals offer an active involvement to the traveling public’s also eliminated or in other words mitigated the possibility of risks such as those that could emanate from insider threats by running a recurrent vetting of employees against some set standard (David, 2008). Remarkably, candidates for employment are subjected to a vigorous background check not excluding checking of criminal history records to ensure a sustained hiring eligibility of the workforce.
Self-discipline is also a crucial element that is emphasized at TSA and which provides a sustenance of the highest level of integrity while executing the agency’s operations. TSA’s has well implemented disciplinary policies and which are structured to hold responsible persons who are involved in misconducts. Such measures are supposed to ensure TSA employees uphold due process rights and ensure an impartial treatment for workforces at all levels of the agency (United States, 2011). TSA employees are thus expected to report any known or suspected violation of law, or Standard Operating Procedure to any TSA Office of Inspection (OOI) whenever such violation has a link to the TSA mission or efficient operation of the agency, or when it happens in the workplace. Accusations of employee misconduct are inspected and in particular cases, Office of Inspection (OOI) agents work with the State prosecutor’s offices or United State Attorney's Offices to reach a final decision which may include retrenchment from work, life sentence, death penalties among others decisions.
More differently and in the wake of security mishaps, TSA is devoted to perfectionism while servicing the transport authority. To achieve excellent functioning of the agency, newly employed officers are subjected to basic training at the TSA Academy in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia (David, 2008). Just as we revolutionized how we train...