ATSA created TSA as an agency within the Department of Transportation (DOT) to ensure security for all modes of transportation, to include aviation. ATSA set forth specific enhancements to aviation security for TSA to implement and established deadlines for completing many of them. These enhancements included federalizing passenger screeners at more than 440 commercial airports by November 19, 2002; screening checked baggage for explosives by December 31, 2002; enhancing screener training standards; and establishing and managing a 2-year pilot program at five airports—one in each airport category—where screening of passengers and property would be conducted by a private screening company and overseen by TSA. Additionally, ATSA included a provision that allows airport operators to apply to opt-out of using federal screeners in favor of private screeners beginning November 19, 2004. Prior to the passage of ATSA, air carriers were responsible for screening passengers and most used private security firms to perform this function. Longstanding concerns existed regarding screener performance in detecting threat objects. Inadequate training and poor supervision, along with rapid turnover and inadequate attention to human factors, were historically identified as key contributors to poor screener performance.As early as 1987, we reported that too little attention had been paid to (1) individual aptitudes for effectively performing screening duties; (2) the sufficiency of screener training and screeners’ ability to comprehend training; and (3) the monotony of the job and distractions that reduced screeners’ vigilance. Additional studies have shown that effective training can lead to more effective performance and lower turnover rates for passenger screeners. Concerns have long existed over screeners’ inability to detect threat objects during covert tests at passenger screening checkpoints. In 1978, screeners failed to detect 13 percent of the potentially dangerous objects FAA agents carried through checkpoints during tests—a level that was considered “significant and alarming.” In 1987, screeners did not detect 20 percent of the objects during the same types of tests. In addition, we reported that FAA tests conducted between 1991 and 1999 showed that screeners’ ability to detect objects was not improving, and in some cases was worsening. In tests conducted in the late 1990s, as the testing objects became more realistic and more closely approximated how a terrorist might attempt to penetrate a checkpoint, screeners’ ability to detect dangerous objects declined even further. Our preliminary observations are based on our review of TSA documentation related to screener training, testing, and supervision; the contract screening pilot program; screener staffing levels; and airport security concerns. We interviewed TSA headquarters’ officials in Arlington, Virginia; and interviewed FSDs, their staffs, and screeners at 12 commercial airports throughout the nation; 10 airport operators; officials at 5 air carriers; and officials from 4 aviation associations— American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), Airports Council International (ACI), Air Transport Association, and Regional Airline Association. We also reviewed our prior reports that addressed issues related to the performance of airport passenger screeners. We conducted our work from May through September 2003 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Because our review is still ongoing, the results presented in this report are preliminary. To complete our work, we will continue to collect and review TSA documentation related to each of our four objectives, including obtaining and analyzing the results of TSA’s operational tests. We will also administer a survey to all 158 FSDs to obtain their perspectives on general and airport specific information related to each of our four objectives. Additionally, we will visit at least 8 additional airports to conduct interviews with FSDs, their staffs, members of the screener workforce, and airport operators. We will also interview representatives of all 5 pilot program airports, as well as airport operators at all category X airports, to obtain information on their coordination with TSA and their plans, if any, to apply to opt-out of the federal screening program beginning November 19, 2004. Finally, we will continue to meet with TSA headquarters officials to obtain current information related to the issues addressed in this report. We anticipate issuing a final report in April 2004. TSA developed basic and remedial screener training programs, but has not fully developed or deployed a recurrent or supervisory training program to ensure that screeners are effectively trained and supervised. Comprehensive and frequent training is key to passenger screeners’ ability to detect threat objects. Studies have shown that on-going training can lead to more effective performance and lower turnover rates for passenger screeners. According to TSA, there are three key elements of passenger screener training: (1) basic training, (2) remedial training, and (3) recurrent training. As required by ATSA, TSA established a basic screener-training program comprised of 40 hours of classroom instruction and 60 hours of on-the-job training (OJT). TSA reported that all of its screeners who work independently have completed basic screener training and that those who failed an operational test received required remedial training. TSA requires screeners to complete a minimum of 40 hours of classroom instruction and 60 hours of OJT prior to making independent screening decisions. This requirement is an increase over FAA’s basic training requirements when it oversaw passenger screening, which called for 12 hours of classroom instruction and 40 hours of OJT. According to TSA officials, all screeners who work independently have met the basic screener training requirements. TSA contractors are responsible for delivering and tracking basic screener classroom training, while OJT is tracked locally at each airport. TSA encourages, but does not require, screening managers, who are responsible for overseeing screening functions to participate in classroom training, even if they do not have prior screening experience. Nevertheless, 2 of the 12 FSDs we interviewed said that they require their screening managers to observe basic screener training. Consistent with ATSA, TSA requires remedial training for any screener who fails an operational test and prohibits screeners from performing the screening function related to the test they failed until they successfully complete the training. FSDs must certify that screeners identified as requiring remedial training complete the training before they can perform the screening function identified as a performance weakness. TSA’s Aviation Operations Division is responsible for tracking the completion of remedial training following the failure of covert tests. The tracking of remedial training initiated for reasons other than failing a covert test is the responsibility of the FSDs or their designees. TSA reported that all screeners requiring remedial training have received the training. TSA has not fully developed or deployed a recurrent training program, but has recognized that ongoing training of screeners on a frequent basis is critical to maintaining and enhancing screener skills. According to agency officials, TSA established a training task force comprised of airport Training Coordinators, screeners, and headquarters officials to conduct an assessment of training needs. As a result of the task force’s suggestions, TSA is developing six recurrent training modules—the first of which TSA plans to deploy to all airports beginning in October 2003. TSA plans to release each of the remaining five modules as they are finalized, which they anticipate will occur throughout 2004. TSA officials also said that they designed and are currently pilot testing an On-Line Learning Management System (LMS) comprised of 366 various training courses, which they expect to field in October 2003. Officials said that they were not further along in implementing their recurrent training modules or LMS due to budget considerations. Fourteen of the 22 passenger screeners and supervisors we interviewed expressed the need for recurrent training. They were particularly interested in receiving additional training related to recognizing x-ray images of threat objects. In addition, 10 of the 12 FSDs we interviewed reported implementing their own locally developed recurrent training courses rather than waiting for the training modules to be deployed by headquarters. TSA’s OIAPR found that screeners at airports that conducted frequent, on-going training performed better during covert tests—TSA’s form of operational testing—than screeners who did not receive recurrent training. TSA describes its screening supervisors as the key to a strong defense in detecting threat objects. In September 2001, we reported on the results of our survey of aviation stakeholders and aviation and terrorism experts concerning options for conducting screening. The respondents identified better supervision as one of the factors necessary for improving screener performance. Additionally, DOT’s Office Inspector General (OIG) recently reported that screener supervisors are the key to effective screening, and TSA’s OIAPR identified a lack of supervisory training as a cause for screener testing failures. FSDs and TSA headquarters officials recognize the need to enhance the skills of screening supervisors through supervisory training.TSA is currently working with USDA to tailor its off- the-shelf supervisory course to the specific needs of TSA’s screening supervisors. TSA recently reported that it is sending supervisors to the basic USDA supervisor’s course until the customized course is fielded, which it expects to occur in April 2004. To supplement the classroom training, TSA also plans to establish a supervisory training module for recurrent training. We plan to review TSA’s training initiatives further during the remainder of our evaluation. Currently, the results of TSA’s OIAPR’s operational, or covert, testing is the only indication of screener performance in detecting threat objects. However, TSA does not view the results of OIAPR’s covert testing as a measure of screener performance, but rather as a “snapshot” of a screener’s ability to detect threat objects at a particular point in time. Although OAIPR conducts fewer covert tests of passenger screeners than previously conducted by the FAA, TSA considers its tests more rigorous than FAA’s tests because they more closely approximate techniques terrorists might use.