testimony

To The U.S. House-Senate Air Security Conference Committee

Regarding Statement Airline System Security

November 12, 2001

The Business Travel Coalition unequivocally supports federalizing airport security personnel at all U.S. commercial airports.  An incontestable consequence of the September 11 act of war on America is that air transportation must now be viewed as a national security matter. 

Corporations spend billions of dollars annually on airline tickets and expect millions of their employees to travel through the air transportation system in the furtherance of their business objectives.  They must insist, therefore, on the highest levels of airport and airplane security for their employees, and they are willing to pay for it through a security surcharge on the airline tickets that they purchase.

Many respected Members of Congress have justifiably compared the September 11 assault on America to the history-altering attack on Pearl Harbor.  Indeed, AWACs crewed by NATO military personnel now guard U.S. airspace; F-16s escort troubled jetliners to the ground; and our travelers and their families understand that an order may be issued to shoot down a commercial airliner.

Nevertheless, two long months after this unbridled aggression against America, it is understood through the media that there is a discussion in Congress regarding the logic of tasking foreign owned firms, employing non-U.S. citizens, with a pivotal role in our national security program.  This is confounding to business travelers, their loved ones, the American people and to the corporations that require their employees to travel.  According to a recent survey conducted by the Business Travel Coalition, 93 percent of corporations want airport security personnel to become federalized.

The debate regarding airport security has been grossly misdirected in our view.  The problems of unqualified screeners, inadequate pay, and insufficient training will be resolved whether the federal government or the private sector employs these personnel.  What is of enormous importance, however, is the structure and system in which these screeners, and those who supervise them, carry out their responsibilities.

The U.S. requires a single management structure to support the security operations at its 420 commercial airports.  These operations must be viewed as interdependent parts in a holistic system wherein intelligence on terrorists can be seamlessly shared, wherein communications lines are vividly clear and wherein accountability for failure is unambiguous.  Importantly, this system needs to interlock with the U.S. military infrastructure to ensure an ironclad guarantee to the American people that the very highest levels of national security are in place.

Member of the Committee, corporate airline customers: 1) currently fund industry infrastructure through ticket taxes; 2) will fund new security measures through ticket surcharges; and 3) will continue to require their employees to fly on company business.  Other private sector stakeholders in this debate simply represent the commercial interests of foreign-owned security firms.  Importantly, they have not made a compelling case for keeping this national security function in the hands of private companies.  In point of fact, the largest of these airport security firms was successfully prosecuted, fined and placed on probation for hiring felons and falsifying records only to be charged with the same crimes a year later. 

In sharp contrast to these very lowest of professional and ethical standards was the U.S. Customs agent who at the U.S.-Canadian border intercepted the so-called millennium bomber.  We would not even consider outsourcing U.S. border security or the Capital Police.  What rational argument could there possibly be that airline system security should be treated any differently, especially knowing the order of magnitude of the threat we now face? 

To those who counter that we have entrusted the security of our nuclear power plants to private security firms, we say a reassessment of that practice should be our next order of business.  For those who argue that federal airport security personnel could not be fired for incompetence, we would advise them to read the Senate bill.  The Attorney General is given full discretion to set the standards and guidelines for hiring and firing security workers. 

Members of the Conference Committee, there is a second major concern.  President Bush is advocating an economic stimulus package properly buttressed by the fact that some 500,000 jobs were lost in the past month.  The majority of those job losses, however, came from the travel, tourism and aerospace industries as a result of Americans having lost confidence in the security of the air transportation system. 

More than any other measure, the economy needs the stimulus of a resurgent airline industry upon which our commercial activities depend, and upon which all industries rely to service their customers and grow their businesses.  A strong, detailed national security plan that federalizes and integrates airline system security strategies, personnel and operations is what it would take to restore the public's confidence in the air transportation system. 

Finally, President Bush advised the United Nations on Saturday, “History will record our response and judge or justify every nation in this hall.”  Likewise, it is our belief that history will record the momentous decisions of this House-Senate Conference Committee.  There can be no compromise when it comes to the safety of our citizens who travel for business or personal reasons, or who work in our most magnificent of buildings. 

Our nation requires a national security solution.  The American people will reject a political one.