TSA nominee faces Senate scrutiny

The man who has been nominated to run the Transportation Security Administration faced the scrutiny of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday in a relatively brief confirmation hearing.

Errol Southers comes to the job of TSA director-nominee with a long background in law enforcement. Right now, he is Associate Director for Educational Programs at the Homeland Security's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, CREATE, which is currently based at the University of Southern California. He's a former deputy director of California's Homeland Security Office, a former FBI agent, and former detective with the Santa Monica, California police department.

One of the most significant issues looming ahead for Southers and the TSA is unionizing TSAs airport screeners, who were denied collective bargaining rights by the Bush administration. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, touched on that issue in her opening statement, but never followed up with Southers in the question and answer session, and no other Senators questioned Southers on the issue.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D.-West Virginia), the chairman of the panel, asked Southers to address an old, and continuing problem involving TSA, and other agencies involved in Homeland Security: the apparently stubborn refusal of those agencies to share information.

Recent press reports raise questions about how the TSA and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) vet individuals who receive airmen certificates, which include pilot licenses, mechanics licenses, and everyone else who has direct access to aircraft.

In response, Southers notes that in southern California, all of the major stakeholders in airport security currently participate in the DHS "Fusion Center", as well as a number of joint terrorism taskforces. All of which, he says helps to foster communications between disparate agencies, even encouraging officials to submit grant requests in a unified manner to facilitate obtaining project funding.

He says the taskforces also make it possible for groups to hold joint training exercises that facilitate better communication.

Southers also says that he met recently with his counterpart at the Federal Aviation Administration, in hopes of resolving any communication breakdowns over the issuance of airmen certificates.

Senator John Thune (R.-S.D.) queried Southers at length about another common complaint about TSA: the treatment of travelers at airport security checkpoints.

Thune related the experience of elderly World War Two veterans who flew to Washington in the past year to participate in the "Honor Flight" program. He said that along with having to deal with long lines, a veteran who used a cane, "was asked to walk through a metal detector unassisted. It was also reported that another veteran had his oxygen tank taken away from him for screening, and was without his oxygen while his tank was screened. Other veterans reported that the TSA screeners were rude and unhelpful."

Even though he is not yet officially on the job, Southers apologized to the committee for the treatment of the veterans, and told lawmakers that the solution might lay in better training, and improved leadership of airport security screeners.

There's no indication from the Senate Commerce Committee when Southers nomination to head the TSA will be voted upon. Southers confirmation hearing was held in conjunction with those for Dr. Patrick Gallagher, to be Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; Dr. Elizabeth M. Robinson, to be Chief Financial Officer, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Paul K. Martin, to be Inspector General, at NASA.

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Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee - Nominations Hearing 10/15/09

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