[Senate Hearing 116-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
  DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met, at 10:00 a.m., in Room SD-138, 
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Shelley Moore Capito 
(chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Capito, Hoeven, Kennedy, Lankford, 
Tester, and Shaheen.

                    DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

                 Transportation Security Administration

STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID PEKOSKE, ADMINISTRATOR, 
            TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

           OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO

    Senator Capito. I call this hearing of the subcommittee on 
Homeland Security to order. This is the subcommittee's second 
hearing of the fiscal year 2021 budget cycle and we are pleased 
to be joined by the Administrator of the Transportation 
Security Administration (TSA), David Pekoske, welcome. 
Administrator Pekoske was confirmed by the Senate as the 
seventh TSA Administrator in August of 2017.
    Prior to joining TSA, Mr. Pekoske served as the 26th Vice 
Commander of the United States Coast Guard. He has demonstrated 
expertise in counterterrorism, crisis management, strategic 
planning initiatives skills that are very useful as he served 
as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security for several 
months last year, and thank you for that service. He has 
received numerous awards for his years of service, including 
the Homeland Security Distinguished Service Medal, Coast Guard 
Distinguished Service Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal. 
I am glad to be joined today by the Ranking Member Senator 
Tester.
    Senator Tester and I have been working together to consider 
the fiscal year 2021 budget request and we look forward to the 
insight from Administrator Pekoske today. I would like to 
mention there is a lot going on and so we will probably have 
members floating in and out throughout the hearing. The 
Transportation Security Administration has proven to be one of 
the most crucial components to the Department of Homeland 
Security's mission of safeguarding our people, homeland, and 
values from current and emerging threats, both domestically and 
internationally.
    I would like to say, Administrator Pekoske, that the men 
and women of the TSA are a source of great pride for all of us 
in this country. They work to keep us safe at our airports 
under stressful conditions when lines develop they try to ease 
that anxiety that comes along sometimes with the traveler, but 
also realizing, and I am going to mention this as well, with 
the onset of a different type of duty with the coronavirus 
issues. We certainly appreciate those that are helping to try 
to contain and also find innovative ways to meet that 
challenge. Since its inception in 2001, TSA could be considered 
the face of the Department, interacting with more than 2 
million passengers every day through screening checkpoints 
across the Nation.
    There is probably no component of the agency that I 
interact with more as I fly back and forth from West Virginia, 
and I want to thank my TSA West Virginia folks. They always 
greet me with a smile no matter if I am grouchy and it is five 
o'clock in the morning. As passenger volume continues to 
increase each morning with TSA breaking records for passengers 
screen that were just set the previous year, we want to ensure 
that you have the proper resources to sustain your current 
operational capacity.
    As more passengers are flying, TSA continually faces new 
challenges, including keeping their workforce and the traveling 
public safe in the face of the coronavirus. We will learn more 
about what TSA is doing to meet that challenge today. The 
budget again proposes to increase the passenger fee to generate 
$618 million in revenue for TSA. A proposal that was rejected 
by Congress in our seven previous budget requests.
    The assumption that Congress would reverse its previous 
decisions and accept the fee increase proposal without proper 
authorization from the appropriate House and Senate committee 
undermines Congressional intent. The assumption also presents a 
budget request that is not founded in reality, but it creates a 
$618 million hole that we have the responsibility to fill.
    Additionally, the budget request eliminates the Law 
Enforcement Officer Reimbursement Program that is important for 
particularly our more rural airports that have revenue 
challenges, and staffing at exit lanes. These two have been 
proposed in previous budget request and subsequently rejected 
by the Congress. I hope you enlighten my fellow colleagues and 
me by explaining your rationale for including these proposals 
once again in the fiscal year 2021 request, and whether or not 
cutting these programs has any merit.
    I have heard from several West Virginian airports, as I 
mentioned in particular about the Law Enforcement Officer 
Reimbursement Program. A particular note, the budget request 
significantly reduces the procurement of computer CT machines, 
Computed Tomography machines, by 90 percent from what we funded 
in 2020. And when I went out and visited, you showed me the 
technology.
    This committee has been told that these machines are vital 
in guaranteeing our aviation security and your proposal to 
slash the procurement of these machines is one we will need to 
discuss as well. I am encouraged by the budget request to 
reform the pay scale incentives for the hard-working men and 
women of the organization, but I am concerned with the budget 
suggestion to delay hiring in the coming fiscal year as a 
mechanism to cut costs. I have been enlightened by my 
discussions with TSA leadership about your workforce challenges 
and opportunities.
    As we approach a predicted record-breaking year of 
passenger volume, I want to make sure that this budget proposal 
will not hinder TSA's operational capacity at our Nation's 
airports. I look forward to hearing more about how you ensure 
efficiency while maintaining your security posture. While most 
think of transportation officers at screening checkpoints in 
airports, when they think of TSA, like my friends I mentioned 
at the Yeager airport. I want to note that TSA's mission spans 
to multimodal security effort, including roads, railroads, 
bridges, tunnels, and ports.
    We want to make sure that you have the proper resources to 
carry out all of TSA's missions, including those that are 
lesser-known. I am very concerned, and we just spoke about, the 
looming deadline for the Real ID compliance. On October 1 of 
this year, a mere 8 months from now, all adult passengers must 
present a Real ID compliant driver's license in order to pass 
through--or I guess you can also present a passport--to pass 
through TSA checkpoint was some noticed exceptions. Yet as of 
right now only one-third of all licenses in use are Real ID 
compliant.
    I look forward to hearing from the Administrator about 
TSA's efforts to ensure that the traveling public is aware of 
this requirement and to hear about contingency plans in case 
significant gains are not seen in the Real ID compliance. 
Administrator Pekoske, thank you for appearing for us today. 
Please keep us updated on what you need to continue your 
critical mission. I have enjoyed our conversations in my visits 
to your facilities to meet your dedicated workforce, and I look 
forward to doing so.
    I will now turn to our distinguished Ranking Member Senator 
Tester for any opening remarks that he may have before hearing 
from our witness.

                    STATEMENT OF SENATOR JON TESTER

    Senator Tester. Well, thank you, Chairman Capito, and I 
want to preach express my appreciation for holding this hearing 
today. And I want to thank you, Administrative Pekoske, for 
being here today to discuss the fiscal year 2021 budget for the 
TSA. First though, especially with the gentleman sitting behind 
you, I want to acknowledge your workforce.
    Whenever I am traveling back and forth, the transportation 
security officers are hard-working, dedicated individuals. They 
don't make a lot of money and they don't have the best hours 
but they are always courteous and professional. So I want to 
thank them for their dedication and keeping us safe. It is no 
small feat and it speaks well to the organization to be able to 
do the job that they do every day and do it pretty darn well. 
The fiscal year 2021 budget requests about $7.6 billion in 
discretionary funding for TSA, $182 million below fiscal year 
2020 enacted level.
    And now, I will tell you it is essential that TSA has the 
resources it needs to fulfill its important security mission. I 
hope that our discussion today will take a detailed look at 
funding the TSA and what they need to stay ahead of 
transportation threats. At the top of my mind is the recent 
hiring freeze TSA put in place and the impacts this decision 
could have on the traveling public. Now, I am going to tell you 
something and I have said this before, I am just a dirt farmer, 
okay, but I am a dirt farmer that flies four legs a week. And 
we have got a lot of my neighbors that fly every year. If I am 
a bad guy and we don't have top-notch security technology, it 
looks like a soft spot, okay. And I know you don't want it to 
be that way. I certainly don't want it to be that way but 
aviation does remain a top threat for terrorists.
    Protecting us against that threat, TSA secures 965 million 
domestic and international aviation passengers every year, and 
experts expect passenger volumes going to continue to grow and 
it will. The traveling public needs to be reassured that the 
TSA is capable of deterring, detecting, and disrupting any 
security threat without creating long wait times and security 
points. In order for that to happen, TSA needs sufficient staff 
and the best screening equipment. 21st century threats require 
21st century solutions, which is why this subcommittee has 
supported investments in new technology to enhance TSA's 
screening capability and passenger throughput.
    I am concerned that the fiscal year 2021 budget only 
request funding for 30 new CT units, despite a total 
requirement of 2,218. We should be building on the progress 
from previous years and the meaningful way so that cutting edge 
technologies can be deployed in the field faster. While it is 
important to have the most advanced screening technology at 
airports, the men and women that wear the TSA uniform are your 
agency's greatest asset. When security checkpoints are 
adequately staffed, the traveler's experience is more enjoyable 
and the entire aviation apparatus is more secure. TSA needs to 
keep pace with hiring in order to process a growing volume, so 
I am interested to hear how TSA plans to support a robust 
workforce.
    Further, as more information surfaces, it is clear that the 
coronavirus presents a substantial challenge to ensure secure 
international and domestic trade and travel. While there are 
still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the virus, TSA must be 
prepared to work with industry and Government stakeholders to 
secure our ports of entry. It is also important to ensure the 
frontline TSA officers have the proper equipment and training 
to protect themselves on the job.
    Finally, I would like to bring up the budget proposal to 
eliminate viper teams and Law Enforcement Officer Reimbursement 
Program. These are short-sighted cuts. These are good programs 
geared toward keeping the traveling public safe. In the end, 
David, I want to thank you for your work. I want to thank you 
for your leadership not only in this capacity, but in previous 
ones.
    We have got a lot of work on this budget to make this thing 
work though. And as I pointed out to folks who come into my 
office every day, President's budget adds another $1 trillion 
to the debt and yet does not fund TSA to the level it needs to 
be funded at. We got a lot of work to do. I appreciate your 
expertise and leadership.
    Senator Capito. Thank you, Senator Tester and now we will 
go to our guest. You have five--well, and then we will allow 
each Senator in order of their arrival five minutes for any 
statements or questions that they may have. So, Administrator 
Pekoske.

                SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID PEKOSKE

    Mr. Pekoske. Thank you. Chairman Capito, Ranking Member 
Tester, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. I 
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you this morning to 
discuss the President's fiscal year 2021 budget request for 
TSA.
    I thank all of you and your staffs for the long standing 
strong support of aviation and surface transportation security. 
It is a privilege to lead the more than 64,000 men and women 
who perform our critical mission with excellence every day. 
This includes our screening workforce, the largest and most 
visible part of TSA, as well as others on the front line that 
include our Federal Air Marshals, our canine teams, our 
inspectors both domestic and international, air and surface 
including air cargo, our vetting staffs, and my representatives 
at embassies around the world. They are all enabled by 
outstanding support, policy, and legal staff throughout the 
agency.
    The President's request provides important new support to 
our screening workforce. This includes, for the first time 
ever, funding for service or longevity pay. The budget provides 
for annual increases of up to 2 percent per year to recognize 
experience and years of service. It also includes the next 
phase of incentives to encourage and recognize career 
progression by providing a 3 percent pay raise for those who 
acquire advanced alarm resolution skills. I ask for your 
support of these critical pay initiatives for our 
transportation security officers. As both of you noted, it is 
very important that we continue to refresh the technology at 
our screening checkpoints in the nearly 440 Federalized 
airports across the country. We need to put the best technology 
in the hands of our outstanding people.
    Thank you for your support of two key ongoing programs. The 
budget continues deployment of the Computed Tomography (CT) X-
ray and the Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) at our 
checkpoints. First with CT, we are in the process of fielding 
the initial 300 machines funded by the Congress.
    This technology represents a significant improvement in our 
ability to detect prohibited items in carry-on baggage and 
eliminates the requirement for passengers to remove electronics 
from their bags. As many of you have witnessed, it provides 
greatly improved imaging for our officers. This will have a 
significant positive impact on checkpoint effectiveness.
    The fiscal year 2021 request continues the CT program as we 
work towards the next contract and will include integrated 
automated screening lanes. The Credential Authentication 
Technology improves our ability to validate the authenticity of 
driver's licenses, passports, and other forms of acceptable ID 
presented by passengers. In addition, it provides near real-
time data from our secure flight system that will ensure 
passengers receive the appropriate level of screening. This CAT 
technology is better and faster than the manual validation 
process it replaces, and it complements the enforcement of the 
Real ID Act pertaining to air travel schedules to begin after 
October 1st of this year, roughly 7 months from now. Real ID is 
critical for security, improving the reliability and accuracy 
of State-issued driver's licenses. This prevents and deters 
terrorists' ability to use fraudulent documents.
    Thank you for your support of both of these critical 
acquisitions. The fiscal year 2021 budget also request funds to 
begin the acquisition process for new on-person anomaly 
detection technology and for new alarm resolution technologies. 
Once complete, our checkpoints will be much more effective and 
efficient, and our officers will have better tools to screen 
passengers. Finally, with respect to check point operations, I 
am pleased to announce that our TSA PreCheck enrollments just 
crossed the 10 million passenger threshold. This is a key 
milestone that exceeds a legal requirement to have 10 million 
passengers enrolled by October 1st of 2020.
    I know you have questions on coronavirus. Supporting the 
President's task force to protect the United States from 
coronavirus has been a top priority for everyone. We have used 
the authority provided by Congress in the Aviation and 
Transportation Security Act to issue a series of directives 
that limit who may board commercial aircraft destined for the 
United States. Carriers have been denying boarding to foreign 
nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens and 
permanent residents, who have either have been in China or as 
of yesterday in Iran within 14 days of travel, and transporting 
all U.S. citizens who have been in either China or Iran within 
14 days of travel through one of 11 airports where they undergo 
medical screening.
    My entire leadership team has worked tirelessly to ensure 
our workforce is protected and we have followed the guidance 
provided by the Centers for Disease Control and OSHA. Both the 
Department and TSA have extensively messaged the workforce to 
ensure that everyone has the latest information.
    Let me close by thanking you for your strong support of the 
men and women who serve their country in TSA. I very much 
appreciate the comments by both the chairman and the ranking 
member with respect to the TSA workforce. I am incredibly proud 
of every single man and woman who works for this agency and 
their service to our country, and I look forward to your 
questions this morning. Thank you.
    [The statement follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of David P. Pekoske
    Good morning Chairman Capito, Ranking Member Tester, and 
distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to 
testify on the President's FY 2021 Budget Request, which includes an 
$8.24 billion request for the Transportation Security Administration 
(TSA). I am honored to be here and grateful for the longstanding and 
constructive relationship that TSA enjoys with this subcommittee.
    TSA was established by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act 
(ATSA) in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The world has changed 
since then, but our fundamental mission, to protect the nation's 
transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and 
commerce, has not. While we remain steadfast in providing the highest 
level of security for the U.S. across all modes of transportation, the 
scope and complexity of that goal has increased over the last two 
decades. Today, the U.S. transportation systems accommodate 
approximately 965 million domestic and international aviation 
passengers per year; over 5.3 billion passengers traveling on both 
transit and over-the-road buses each year; more than 10.1 billion 
passenger trips on mass transit per year; 26 million students daily on 
school buses; and nearly 900,000 chemical shipments every day on 
trucks. Our interconnected transportation system and infrastructure 
includes approximately 440 federalized airports; 126,000 miles of 
railroad tracks; 4.2 million miles of highway; 615,000 highway bridges; 
473 road tunnels; and 2.5 million miles of pipeline.
    Since TSA's creation, the modes and methods of terrorist attacks 
have become more decentralized and opportunistic than ever before. 
Aviation and transport hubs, however, remain highly-valued targets. Our 
adversaries are watching us, studying our vulnerabilities, and working 
hard to formulate new attack strategies to replace those that have 
failed. The daily threat environment TSA faces in the aviation, 
surface, and cyber security realms is persistent, pervasive, and 
constantly evolving. To meet the challenge created by such adversaries, 
we must innovate, deploy new solutions rapidly and effectively, and 
maximize the impact of our resources.
    Our continuing vision is to be an agile security agency, embodied 
by a professional workforce that engages its partners and the American 
people to outmatch a dynamic threat. To that end, in April 2018, I 
issued the 2018-2026 TSA Strategy, which established three strategic 
priorities to guide the agency's workforce through its 25th 
Anniversary: Improve Security and Safeguard the Transportation System; 
Accelerate Action; and Commit to Our People. I subsequently published 
my Administrator's Intent delineating short and medium-term objectives 
for the first three years to achieve those priorities.
    Further empowering TSA to execute its mission, serve as a global 
leader in transportation, and become an employer of choice, the TSA 
Modernization Act of 2018, the agency's first comprehensive 
reauthorization since inception, was enacted in October 2018. The TSA 
Modernization Act authorized funding for Fiscal Years 2019, 2020, and 
2021; enhanced organizational structures, operations, and processes; 
and established a five-year term for the Administrator--a critically 
important factor for ensuring organizational stability and setting and 
achieving longer term agency goals.
    As I come before you today, slightly more than halfway through my 
term as Administrator and at a point where we are developing the next 
version of the Administrator's Intent, I want to thank Congress for the 
authorities provided to TSA through the TSA Modernization Act. 
Currently, TSA has completed more than 80 percent of the Act's 
requirements with deadlines and I want to express my gratitude for the 
previous appropriations provided to TSA that have enabled us to execute 
our mission and make significant progress on a number of strategic 
priorities. Additionally, I want to use this opportunity to convey both 
what we have accomplished and our future goals and objectives. In FY 
2019, we--

  --Screened approximately 839 million aviation passengers (with a peak 
        volume of 2.8 million passengers in one day), representing a 
        4.3 percent checkpoint volume increase from FY 2018;

  --Screened 1.9 billion carry-on items and more than 510 million 
        checked bags;

  --Procured 300 Computed Tomography (CT) units and began preparation 
        for the nationwide deployment of CT systems; and

  --Conducted 1,693 air carrier inspections at foreign airports, 144 
        foreign airport assessments, 60 pipeline critical facility 
        security reviews, 107 assessments of mass transit operator 
        security enhancements, and 182 assessments of security 
        enhancements by motor carriers.

    The FY 2021 President's Budget continues to support TSA's strategy 
to improve security and safeguard the Nation's transportation system, 
accelerate action, and reinforce TSA's commitment to its people. It 
supports $3.5 billion for our Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) 
at the Nation's airports. We thank Congress for the continued support 
you've provided for the TSO staffing increases needed to meet passenger 
expectations as well as increasing volumes. This investment will allow 
us to maintain acceptable wait times, and mitigate risk associated with 
crowding at checkpoints.
    To complement a well-trained, sufficiently sized workforce, TSA is 
also focused on strengthening checkpoint operations through the 
development and acquisition of new technology. To this end, we are in 
the process of acquiring Computed Tomography (CT) units and Credential 
Authentication Technology (CAT) units, which represent significant 
technologic enhancements from the equipment currently used for identity 
verification and the screening of accessible property, and deploying 
them to airports nationwide as quickly as possible. CT technology will 
provide superior detection capability, will be more convenient for 
passengers, and eventually may eliminate the requirement to take 
electronics, liquids, aerosols, and gels out of carry-on bags.
    As of February 25, 2020, there are 65 CT units deployed to 
checkpoints with another 49 units supporting testing and research and 
development. The FY 2021 President's Budget provides $28.9 million to 
support the procurement of 30 full-size CT units. The FY 2021 funding 
will enable TSA to continue to accelerate the provision of CT 
technology to the field to enable our workforce to more effectively and 
efficiently execute the mission.
    CAT also provides a significant security upgrade to the 
identification verification and prescreening process. Ultimately, CAT 
will enable Secure Flight screening status to be known and cross-
checked in near real time. In FY 2019, TSA procured 505 CAT units, with 
480 units deployed as of February 10, 2020. The FY 2021 President's 
Budget includes $2.3 million to finalize the procurement and deployment 
of 1,520 CAT units to airports nationwide. The continued rollout of CAT 
units to checkpoints will improve TSA's ability to detect fraudulent 
documents and screen passengers based on assessed risk. The CAT unit 
has also served as a key tool for TSA's efforts to meet the TSA 
Modernization Act requirement for TSA Pre lanes to only serve 
passengers with Known Traveler Numbers, which will improve the TSA Pre 
passenger experience, and serve as a platform for testing voluntary 
facial matching technology.
    Finally, TSA strives through continued investment to improve the 
Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) being used at our checkpoints today. 
The FY 2021 President's Budget provides $5 million to develop Next Gen 
AIT systems, and an additional $3 million of funding for research and 
development enhancements for Emerging Alarm Resolution technologies.
    Our frontline workforce can better execute their security mission 
when equipped with the technology needed to counter evolving threats. 
While sustained technological improvement at our checkpoints is 
critically important, we are also committed to investing in our most 
important asset, our people. TSA is pleased that our employees provide 
input into the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, values their 
feedback, and acknowledges the concerns regarding pay dissatisfaction 
and low morale expressed through the survey. In an effort to address 
these longstanding workforce challenges, I commissioned a Blue-Ribbon 
Panel of public and private sector human capital experts last year to 
identify problems and recommend solutions. In 2019, we received a 
number of recommendations from the panel, including that TSA should 
better leverage the authorities and flexibilities provided through ATSA 
rather than convert to the General Schedule.
    Recently, TSA has addressed locality driven turnover issues through 
the use of retention incentives as a short-term fix for retaining TSOs 
in particularly competitive markets. Concurrently, we took measures to 
create career paths that aligned increased pay to enhanced training and 
skills by implementing the TSO Career Progression initiative. Through 
the FY 2021 President's Budget, TSA is transitioning away from relying 
predominantly on employing retention incentives at specific locations 
and instead adopting a more holistic and permanent solution by 
investing in career service pay, which will create a more predictable 
system for salary increases over a TSO's career. Additionally, the FY 
2021 Budget supports the implementation of a second phase of our TSO 
Career Progression initiative, a merit based promotion to 7,500 top 
performing TSOs.
    The FY 2021 President's Budget funds two workforce initiatives and 
represents a significant long-term commitment to our workforce that 
will help address these concerns. First, the Budget includes $23.6 
million for Service Pay to fund predictable, annual pay increases for 
TSOs who demonstrate service experience. The Budget also seeks $11.3 
million for the second phase of TSO Career Progression, an investment 
that will enable TSA to provide a three percent pay increase to 
screeners who demonstrate higher skill levels in checkpoint operations. 
Although TSA has the legal authority to implement these workforce 
improvements, TSA requires the budgetary resources to provide these 
additional workforce improvements to TSOs. We are confident that the 
investment in Service Pay and funding of the second phase of the TSO 
Career Progression initiative demonstrate how we can employ our ATSA 
authorities to make TSA an employer of choice.
    Finally, in conjunction with the FY 2021 President's Budget, the 
Administration has proposed raising the Aviation Passenger Security 
Fee, also known as the September 11th Security Fee, in order to fully 
cover the costs of aviation security by FY 2028. The fee was created to 
cover the costs of aviation security, but in FY 2020 only covers 39 
percent of today's costs. The proposal would increase the fee by one 
dollar, from $5.60 to $6.60 per one-way trip in FY 2021 and from $6.60 
to $8.25 in FY 2022. This measure would generate $618 million in new 
revenue in FY 2021 and close to $28 billion in new revenue over the 
next 10 years.
    Securing our Nation's transportation system is a complex task and 
we cannot do it alone. To achieve the priorities reflected within the 
FY 2021 President's Budget, we will continue to engage with industry 
and stakeholders, invest resources in our employees, and encourage the 
public to be part of the solution. Finally, through constructive 
oversight and dialogue, we seek to partner with Congress as we work to 
secure all modes of transportation.
    Chairman Capito, Ranking Member Tester, and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you 
today. I look forward to your questions.

    COVID-19 SCREENING: TRANSPORATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION'S ROLE

    Senator Capito. Thank you. I will kick it off here. Let's 
talk a little more in depth on the coronavirus. You mentioned 
in your statement that you are working together in a 
coordinated fashion with other entities that are trying to 
maintain the safety and well-being of so many citizens. And we 
are probably one of the most traveled countries, I am sure, 
around the globe.
    I guess, the first question I would ask is, when somebody 
is screened coming in, explain how that occurs. You mentioned 
to me earlier that it occurs actually at the airport of origin 
and not as that person is flying into the United States. Does 
TSA have a role there and what is your role?
    Mr. Pekoske. We do, Madam Chair. A couple things to answer 
that question. First and foremost, TSA through its security 
directives and emergency amendments provide requirements to 
carriers at all of the last known departure airports to the 
United States.
    So this is 280 airports throughout the world, not just 
airports in China. And essentially, what we asked the carriers 
to do is ask a series of questions of every passenger as they 
are boarding, and they also have the option of checking the 
passenger's passport to ensure there has been no travel to 
China, for example, or now Iran, for the last 14 days.
    Senator Capito. And there are two countries that are going 
to be added to that, correct?
    Mr. Pekoske. There will be additional countries, I am sure, 
as we continue to work with the task force, and I think those 
announcements will be relatively soon. So there is screening 
that is done by the carriers at the gate in last point of 
departure airports throughout the world. And then there is 
additional screening done by the passengers when they come into 
the United States across the U.S. border.
    With respect to non-U.S. citizens, if you have been in 
China or Iran currently in the last 14 days, you cannot travel 
to the United States until 14 days has elapsed and you don't 
present symptoms of disease. But for U.S. citizens, you are 
allowed to return to the United States, but we, what we call 
funnel, those passengers through 11 airports around the 
country. And at those 11 airports, the Centers for Disease 
Control does medical screening for the passengers as they 
present themselves at the border.
    Senator Capito. Do you feel you have the resources and 
capabilities to complete this mission at this point?
    Mr. Pekoske. I do feel we have the resources and the 
capability. This really has not impacted our domestic screening 
operations to date, and we have adequate equipment for our 
officers, because as you know, our officers wear gloves as a 
matter, of course, anyway. That is part of our requirement. 
That is the primary means of transmission for the disease. We 
have also authorized our officers in the screening checkpoints 
if they would like to wear a surgical mask, they are permitted 
to do that, and we provide those masks.
    Senator Capito. Do you have any idea how many people have 
been denied entrance, non-citizens? Is that a large number?
    Mr. Pekoske. It is not a large number, and then of course 
an even smaller number that present at the border and then are 
referred for further medical screening or quarantine.

                                REAL ID

    Senator Capito. Let's talk about the Real ID. I am really 
concerned about this compliance. We all see the little sign 
that says by October first. You have to have the real ID, 
compliant ID. I told you earlier today that I did not realize 
that my driver's license is not compliant although I thought 
that it was, and it has to have a gold star in the right hand 
corner, which I checked a couple of times.
    This to me could really present to be a major nightmare for 
TSA. So, how do you suggest or how are you moving forward to 
making sure, and what are you doing with the States to make 
sure that people know that this is--your life is going to 
change. And so I would like to hear your explanation.
    Mr. Pekoske. Thanks for the question, Chairman. And we have 
done messaging for literally years on Real ID compliance. But 
what we find is that when we post messages at the screening 
checkpoints, people will generally just walk by them. They 
don't stop to read those messages. So that has not been the 
most effective means, and of course we put all messaging on our 
website, but you have to go to the TSA website to receive it.
    What we did recently beginning last August was we asked our 
officers, if a passenger presented him or herself at the 
screening checkpoint, provided their driver's license and the 
officer noticed that that was not a Real ID driver's license, 
which is very easy to figure out because like you said it has 
got that gold star in the upper right hand corner, the officer 
would say to the passenger, this license is fine for today's 
travel and it is fine for travel all the way up through 1st of 
October, but you will need to have a Real ID driver's license 
on the 1st of October of 2020.
    The other thing that we remind passengers of, and our 
messaging is very robust on this, is that there are other forms 
of acceptable ID in addition to a driver's license. For 
example, a passport is an acceptable form of ID. If you are a 
member of the military, military CAT card is an acceptable form 
of ID. If you are a global entry trusted traveler enrollee and 
you have a card for global entry that is an acceptable form of 
ID. We just need to remind people to remember to bring those 
other acceptable forms of ID, if they have them, to the 
checkpoint.
    Final thing, chairman, that we are doing is we are working 
through the carriers, and the carriers have been terrific in 
helping us out with this, to post on their websites as a 
passenger is making a reservation, hey, just remember that as 
of October, if you are making a reservation after October, you 
need to have a Real ID driver's license.
    And then, we will also ask them in the check-in process, as 
we get closer to October 1st, as a passenger goes to check in, 
that they provide that additional information so the passengers 
that don't have them either bring something else that can get 
them through the screen checkpoint or change their travel 
plans.
    Senator Capito. Well, we want to work with you to be able 
to get--I just said I am envisioning, you know, people have a 
tendency to put everything off. They wait till the last minute. 
You got to get four or five different types of ID to go in and 
get your Real ID. So we want to be helpful however we can. And 
so I will turn now to Senator Shaheen.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Administrator Pekoske, I 
appreciate the work that TSA is doing on this but I share the 
concern from Senator Capito that there are a lot of people who 
have no idea that this is an issue and I didn't hear your 
response to her question of do you think we will be ready by 
October the 1st?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, Senator Shaheen. You know, I am very 
concerned about this as well. I mean TSA is going to be the 
agency front and center when Real ID implementation occurs on 
October 1st. We are looking at everything we can do to minimize 
and mitigate the impact on travel because the last thing we 
want are more people standing in line at a screening checkpoint 
and they might learn that they won't be able to make their 
flight or even travel that day.
    We are working very closely with the airports to find 
whatever means we can use to separate off the people that don't 
have an acceptable form of ID and handle those passengers 
different than everyone else who does have an acceptable form 
of ID. Because one of my concerns is, you know, I try to avoid 
creating large public gatherings of passengers lined up at the 
screening checkpoint. That is a security vulnerability.
    So we will do everything we possibly can to mitigate this, 
but the reality is that it is a legal requirement that as of 
the deadline, if you don't have--if all you are presenting is a 
driver's license and it is not Real ID compliant, that is not 
acceptable.

                          COVID-19: RESOURCES

    Senator Shaheen. Well, I certainly understand that. I just 
flew this weekend with my daughter who was not told by the 
screening agent that her driver's license was not Real ID 
compliant. So I would urge you to encourage all of your 
screening agents to actually do that when they see people.
    I want to go back to the question about the coronavirus, 
because I understood you to say that you have the resources 
that you need. Does that mean that TSA personnel have all the 
necessary training and personal protective equipment to respond 
to a traveler who may have been exposed to the coronavirus?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, ma'am. We have all the necessary personal 
protective equipment available that we think is needed given 
what we see today.
    Senator Shaheen. And do they have the training? They know 
how to respond?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, ma'am. And we message this. In fact, I 
just sent a message out to the entire workforce again this 
morning on this topic. And just the things that we have all 
seen in the media of washing your hands frequently. We provide 
hand sanitizer at the checkpoints. We recommend that they 
change their gloves more often than they have in the past. And 
that they try to keep some distance from passengers because we 
have that option in the screening checkpoint.
    So, you know, I think we have got the number of people that 
we need because this really has not impacted our screening 
operations to date, and we will have contingency plans in place 
should we have a lot of call-outs. For example, of people that 
call in sick that are working for TSA. But I also think at the 
same time we will probably see lower passenger volumes as well.
    Senator Shaheen. And so, I talked to somebody who came in 
from Italy just in the last week who was not screened for 
temperature at the airport here in the United States, they were 
screened in Europe. Is there a reason for that?
    Mr. Pekoske. The CDC, as of a couple days ago, had not 
recommended additional measures for either Italy or South 
Korea, the two countries that have a good number of cases right 
now and two countries that have been very, very forward leaning 
on this issue. I expect that in the not-too-distant future we 
will look at some measures for any country that, that seems to 
present more of a risk for Americans.

             FISCAL YEAR 2021 BUDGET REQUEST UNFUNDED ITEMS

    Senator Shaheen. The President's budget request eliminates 
the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams, 
which is the main way that TSA conducts operations with local 
law enforcement for rail and bus safety. Can you speak to why 
that budget request was eliminated when we have approximately 
76,000 buses that carry 19 million passengers each weekday in 
the United States, and that doesn't address the transit and 
rail security?
    Mr. Pekoske. The reason that and the Law Enforcement 
Officer Reimbursement Program (LEO) and the exit lane staffing 
were not included in the budget again was just simply due to 
affordability reasons. TSA has a top-line budget that we need 
to live within and we need to make very difficult trade-offs in 
living with that top line.
    With respect to VIPR and Law Enforcement Reimbursement 
these are very valuable programs for us, make no mistake about 
it. I appreciate your comments on the VIPR teams. They provide 
very important security augmentation in both the surface modes 
and in the airports. And as I look at airports with our 
increasing concern about the insider threat, VIPR teams will be 
even more valuable going forward. So it is no reflection 
whatsoever on the value of those security measures, it is 
simply an affordability issue.
    Senator Shaheen. And so is the assumption that Congress 
will put the money back in because we understand how important 
it is and then therefore the Administration can have the money 
shown to be used for something else?
    Mr. Pekoske. My commitment to every member on the 
subcommittee is I will provide you whatever information you 
need to make your own determination as to whether or not that 
particular program should continue to be funded. I think we 
have a very good track record in TSA of being very responsive 
to any requests from members or staffs.
    Senator Shaheen. So would you like for us to put the money 
back in?
    Mr. Pekoske. I think the capability that are provided by 
VIPR is very important. And another thing I would add to this 
discussion is that, you know, VIPRs are staffed by Federal Air 
Marshals. One of the things that I am trying to do is to ensure 
that we have enough ground based assignments for Federal Air 
Marshals so that they aren't flying constantly for 10 or 11 
years because that is just not a good use of a resource. So 
there is a lot of utility to the VIPR program.
    Senator Shaheen. I take that as a, yes. Thank you. Madam 
Chair.
    Senator Capito. Senator Kennedy.
    Senator Tester. Your questions are much more enjoyable than 
mine.
    [Laughter.]

                            AIRPORT STAFFING

    Senator Kennedy. I am on my best behavior today. Mr. 
Administrator, we all fly a lot and I guess we have different 
experiences, of course we do, but I will say that not every 
time but about two out of three times that I go to the airport, 
the TSA person checks me and reminds me about the change in the 
ID.
    And in fact, that is how I got to learn about it. I 
remember reading it about it several years ago, and I remember 
thinking what idiot came up with this idea that we all have to 
get new identification. I am sure it sounded like a good idea 
to somebody at the time.
    We have a lot of large airports for which we are grateful, 
but in my State we have a lot of small airports, and some of my 
people have pointed out to me that when they on occasion go to 
our smaller airports, having already paid for PreCheck, they 
like to get there early to get settled in, and there is no one 
from TSA checking people in. They have shifts, and when they 
are not busy, they just don't have a shift. Have you had--do 
you have concerns about that? Have you heard complaints about 
that?
    Mr. Pekoske. Senator Kennedy, at smaller airports, yes, we 
do use a lot of shift work, but that shift work is designed to 
ensure that the screening checkpoint is open well in advance of 
when any flight departures occur. So if there is a specific 
issue, I would be most happy to address that.
    Senator Kennedy. We will get in touch with you. We have had 
some situations where a lot of my people like to get to the 
airport early and get settled in, and they get there in a 
smaller airport and there is nobody working and they have to 
wait till somebody comes on duty.
    When I get off a plane and I am exiting the airport, I go 
through the exit lane and there is generally a police officer 
there saying, you know, to make sure that people don't try to 
sneak in which of course is important. Are you familiar with 
the LEO program?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.

             FISCAL YEAR 2021 BUDGET REQUEST UNFUNDED ITEMS

    Senator Kennedy. I realized that the last time Congress 
adopted a President proposed budget was never, but I am curious 
as to why you are recommending a cut in the LEO program.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. The reason for the recommendation 
again has no reflection whatsoever on the LEOs. They are very 
good partners of ours. We rely on them heavily. The airport 
security programs, which is a program that we require the 
airports to comply with, always contain a provision that 
requires law enforcement presence within a certain number of 
minutes at the screening checkpoint.
    So it is a regulatory requirement that law enforcement 
officers be present. We have overtime reimbursed law 
enforcement agencies because we recognize that their budgets 
are difficult as well. But the reason why this always appears 
in the budget as a reduction is because there is a regulatory 
requirement so there is no requirement to reimburse.
    And the thought is that over time, those law enforcement 
agencies can budget and then basically move themselves off of 
the requirement for reimbursement. But I do recognize the 
significant value that they provide to us and the partnerships 
are very, very strong.
    Senator Kennedy. Well, if the LEO program were 
substantially reduced or went away, and we have to have the 
security, who would pay for it, the airport, or the law 
enforcement agency would have to eat it?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. That would be between the law 
enforcement agency and the airport. You know, if they could get 
into some reimbursable arrangement with the airport, for 
argument's sake that would be between them. We would not be 
involved. Our requirement is just that there be a law 
enforcement officer present in a certain number of minutes 
within the checkpoint for obvious security reasons.
    Senator Kennedy. But you don't have any plans to eliminate 
the LEO program, do you?
    Mr. Pekoske. No, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. I yield back, Madam Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Capito. Senator Tester.
    Senator Tester. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to 
thank Senator Kennedy for that line of questioning because I 
can just follow right on it. So see, there is always a plan. So 
there are cuts to the LEO program though, and Administrator, 
you talked about the fact that there is a requirement if there 
is a problem for people to be there.
    So let's put this in a reality form. Local Government, 
County Government doesn't have a lot of money. They are not 
hiring extra cops just to lay around. In fact, I can't think of 
a case in Montana where they don't need more police than they 
already have because the need out there is greater.
    So if we want to expect them to be able to be there and 
come to the aid of a potential problem in an airport, they got 
to have people to do that. The point I would make is with these 
LEO cuts, there is going to be less opportunity for those local 
law enforcement agencies to be able to have the money to be 
able to bring people on, because they are not going to bring 
them on just for this, to be able to come forth.
    So the real question here is this your idea to cut the LEO 
program or is this the Office of Management Budget's idea to 
cut the LEO program?
    Because OMB has cut a lot of things in this budget, not 
this budget, all budgets, not just yours, all of them. Crop 
insurance is a fine example. Some of you don't know what the 
hell is going on and OMB cut that program. Purdue would not 
have done that. And so it is the same thing here. I can't 
imagine you doing this.
    Mr. Pekoske. So, the way we work the budget is every single 
agency in the Department Homeland Security, which I know well, 
receives a top-line. And every year we get a top-line number 
and we just need to make sure that our budget submissions are 
within that top line. That requires some very difficult 
decisions.
    Senator Tester. This budget runs a $1 trillion deficit.
    Mr. Pekoske. I know.
    Senator Tester. The President's budget runs a $1 trillion 
deficit. We have passed budgets were we have more money than 
anything I have ever seen since I have been here in the last 12 
years, yet we are taking a potential--maybe I just see it 
wrong. Maybe flying is no big problem. May be putting those 
planes into the Twin Towers is a one-time thing. It is never 
going to happen again, but I don't think so.
    Mr. Pekoske. Nor do I, sir. You know, I think the risk with 
aviation is as great, if not greater than it was on 9/11.

                            TSA STAFF HIRING

    Senator Tester. Than it was 20 years ago, that is right. 
So, let me let me peel on to this a little bit deeper. The 
Washington Post reported that the TSA has already frozen hiring 
and overtime in fiscal year 2020. There is a little cost of 
living adjustment that has put us in that situation, and quite 
frankly, we haven't allowed enough dollars for the cost of 
living adjustment. You combine that with the LEO program, with 
the VIPR program. What is the Department doing?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, with respect to the hiring freeze, 
all we are trying to do is manage the funds we have as best we 
can, as efficiently as we can. And so what we are not doing is 
we haven't stopped recruiting. We haven't stopped issuing offer 
letters for people for employment. But we have decided to do is 
bring them on at certain points in time so we save the salary 
cost in between.
    Senator Tester. This looks like a disaster waiting to 
happen, and I am not being critical of you. I like you. I think 
you are a good guy. But the fact the matter is, have you 
thought about doing a reprogramming or transfer to take care of 
this problem?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. Reprogramming of some of my own 
funds and then a reprogramming request to our Department.
    Senator Tester. And when will we receiving that 
notification?
    Mr. Pekoske. That is still under review, sir. And I don't 
know what the response is going to be from the Department or 
from the Office of Management Budget yet, but the request has 
been submitted.

                          SCREENING TECHNOLOGY

    Senator Tester. Well, Senator Hoeven is here. He is the 
chairman of the Indian Affairs committee and we have this 
conversation with the IHS and the BAA all the time. If this is 
something that has to be done, you need to fight for it. It is 
just really important. I think it is really important. Okay, so 
there is a--the best technology for screening passengers and 
luggage.
    We have supported the new CT machines and you know that, 
need more of them. Quite frankly, as I said in my opening 
statement, this budget requests 30, we need over 2,200 of them. 
How is this going to come to reality over time? Look, we get 
briefed all the time about the change in threat. You know more 
about change threat than we do. So isn't the best of technology 
a pretty absolute necessity?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. Absolute a necessity as soon as we 
can get it on board. And with respect to----
    Senator Tester. But don't you have to ask for dollars to 
get it on board?
    Mr. Pekoske. We do. Yes, sir. And I will explain why that 
request is $30 million in just a second. But just to reiterate 
that the capability of the CT technology is night and day 
compared to the current technology we have and we need to get 
to this point. We need to get there as quickly as we can. And 
you are right, the numbers are high.
    I mean it is, you know, between 21 and 2,400 X-ray machines 
throughout our system. We decided last year, we put--we issued 
the first contract with the money that you appropriated in 
fiscal year 2019 for the initial 300 machines. That contract 
was a contract that was on an existing contract vehicle that we 
had but we knew that we were going to have to put a new 
contract vehicle in place for all the follow-on acquisitions. 
This contract vehicle that we are putting in place is a big one 
because just take, let's say for argument's sake, you take 
2,000, you take 300 off, there are 1,700 machines. That is a 
lot of capability, a lot of investment on the part of the 
Federal Government, but very, very necessary investment.
    What we have done is we have decided that we don't want to 
be in the business of taking those roller systems. You know, 
those rollers that feed your carry-on bag into the tunnel of 
the X-ray and then you pick it up at the end. We want to see an 
integrated solution to those because our experience is 
government does not do integrated products well.
    And so, we are in the process of working with all the 
vendors that qualified for the initial acquisition and asking 
them in today, or yesterday rather, they should have submitted 
what they think their solution is for this combined baggage 
handling system and X-ray technology.
    And then we are going to go through a testing process. 
mostly on the integration because we don't need to retest the 
X-ray technology. We will be in a position to issue the request 
for proposals for this new very large contract probably mid-
summer of this year. And then we will go through the bid 
process and we expect an award probably a year from there 
because it is going to take some time to work through that 
process.
    Senator Tester. And then when would the delivery be?
    Mr. Pekoske. The delivery will follow immediately after 
that.
    Senator Tester. So we are talking 2 years from now.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But in the meantime----
    Senator Tester. And you are comfortable that?
    Mr. Pekoske. I wish it could be a lot faster but this----
    Senator Tester. Are there ways we could speed it up?
    Mr. Pekoske. I am working every single angle I can.
    Senator Tester. Well, the point is that we are here to help 
you speed it up. If you give us ideas on how to speed it up, I 
think you would get bipartisan support for that.
    Mr. Pekoske. Will do. Thank you.
    Senator Capito. Senator Hoeven.

                                REAL ID

    Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I appreciate it. 
So I went and got my Real ID here last week and am pleased to 
say the State of North Dakota is on top of it, doing an 
outstanding job. And the process was really good when I went 
and the challenge is ahead of time getting roughly four 
different types of ID you need. You know, I am guessing 
everybody's got some of them, but between myself and my wife, 
we didn't have all of them. Our social security cards, you 
know, we lost track of them like 40, 50 years ago.
    So we had to go get those. But the point is a lot of folks 
are going to show up October 1st to see your front line people 
at TSA, who are doing a fine job and we appreciate them a lot, 
and what are you going to do? Because I mean our State is 
promoting it. I know the other States are promoting it.
    I think you are trying to get the word out, but you are 
still going to have a lot of people show up October 1st who are 
going to want to get on a plane and you are going to tell them 
no, you don't have a Real ID compliant driver's license. And 
they are going to go, oh, I know and I am sure going to go get 
it, but golly, we got to go see my grandma or you name it. What 
is your contingency plan?
    Mr. Pekoske. A couple of things. First, on the processing 
part. When the regulation was first issued back I believe in 
2008, a lot of the electronic forms of submission of documents 
did not exist. And so we worked with the State DMVs who have 
been very, very good partners for us in this process and we 
asked for their input as to things we could do to make the 
document process more electronic.
    They came out with some very good recommendations and now 
we are working through the regulatory process to change that. 
So the process for people should be easier going forward.
    Senator Hoeven. That is good because particularly for young 
people, they do everything electronic now. That is important.
    Mr. Pekoske. Exactly. And plus you are not carrying a bunch 
of documents with you, leaving them behind, things like that. I 
mean, it is just better overall. So that process should be in 
place sometime in the not-too-distant future. I don't have a 
date for that yet. With respect to people showing up at the 
screening checkpoint, one of the things that is really 
important to me is what you all pay me to do, is to ensure 
security in our system.
    And so we will not compromise security in any way, shape, 
or form with passengers who show up at our screening 
checkpoints with an ID that we can no longer by law accept as 
of the deadline date. We just can't since it would be against 
the law to do that. And so we are going to have to have an 
enhanced screening process because that is what we do. Our 
standard operating procedure calls for, if a passenger shows 
up--and it happens every day, passengers show up that they lost 
their driver's license, misplaced it. We have a process to get 
them through screening but it is lengthy.
    And so what will happen without a doubt, even if there are 
just several hundred people which is an under estimate of what 
we think is going to occur in any individual airport, it is 
going to take those individuals a long time to get through our 
process. And there really is no way around it because when we 
do screening for people without the acceptable forms of ID, 
that is full bag search and that is a full on body pat-down. 
That takes a lot longer than having your bag go through the 
machine and having us look for specific anomalies in that bag 
or walking through a metal detector and not alarming it.
    Senator Hoeven. Is that going to hold up the person with 
the Real ID and then they are going to miss their flight?
    Mr. Pekoske. We are working every way we can to make sure 
that doesn't happen.
    Senator Hoeven. I think you are going to have to have--
look, it is going to happen. And your folks on the front line 
are doing a fine job. They are going to be confronted with some 
real challenges. I think you better have a clear plan and 
really lay it out and we are going to have to know exactly how 
it is going to work, because I guarantee people are going to 
show up and you are going to have this issue. And I am saying, 
yeah, we need to get the word out. Let's do more of that. You 
still have to have a contingency plan.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. If I were a frontline worker sitting there, 
I would want to know there is a contingency plan and I would 
want to know what it is because I am going to be facing a lot 
of folks that are going to get pretty angry if they can't get 
on that plane because they just have to go.
    Mr. Pekoske. Right. And I am going to be front and center 
on that issue if it happens at airports around the country. I 
am keenly aware of that and we will do everything we can to 
mitigate the impact but there will be an impact.
    Senator Hoeven. And I think, you know, we will help however 
we can and States will help. But this is something--it has to 
be both the communication but then you have to have a plan that 
day because you will have to handle those people, and we need 
to know what that is.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. But I would just add that no matter 
what we do, because we have limited capability of screen 
checkpoints as you know. I mean some checkpoints only have a 
fixed number of lanes, no matter what we do, for people that 
don't have a Real ID driver's license, it will take longer. And 
it could take a lot longer. And as you pointed out, even for 
passengers that have the Real ID or have a passport, there will 
be some time impact to them, but we will try to minimize that 
as much as we can.

                          SCREENING TECHNOLOGY

    Senator Hoeven. I had one other question. Madam Chairman, 
do you want me to wait? I have one more. The other question 
follows up on something that the ranking member brought up. We 
have some really fantastic rural States represented here like 
North Dakota and Montana and West Virginia and Louisiana and 
even Oklahoma. And, what are you going to do to get those--can 
you talk about those scanners, you talked about those CAT 
scanners, out.
    And Senator Tester is right. I mean, we need those things 
out there. You need a lot more of them. How about some more--
what are you going to do in a rural airports, right? Because we 
know you are going to give me the urban airports, but we got a 
lot of rural airports out there that we are worried about. What 
is the plan?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. We planned even in our initial 300 
buy, to make sure that we spread the distribution across all 
sizes of airports, because as you point out, every single--
there is no airport that is less important than another one. 
Because as a passenger, if you get through security, you are in 
the entire system. And so I want to make sure that we put the 
technology out at rural airports and at the same level that we 
do for the larger airports.
    Senator Hoeven. Very important point. Well-made. Thank you.
    Mr. Pekoske. Thank you.

                                REAL ID

    Senator Capito. Thank you. Before I go to Senator Lankford, 
I would just like to ask, Senator Kennedy said whose brilliant 
idea was it that we have a Real ID. If you could maybe in 30 
seconds say whose brilliant idea that was and when that was 
conceived.
    Mr. Pekoske. It was the Real ID Act of 2005.
    Senator Capito. That would be Congress, yes. Senator 
Lankford.

                       UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

    Senator Lankford. If it is of any help to you, Senator 
Kennedy, you weren't here when that passed and so you won't 
have to worry about taking that one. So, thanks for being here. 
Thanks for the work. All of us go through the process of TSA, 
all of us are grateful for the folks that are standing there in 
blue doing a great job.
    And I would tell you in the airports that I fly out of 
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the most out of those two airports, 
and I fly out of Oklahoma City more often than I do out of 
Tulsa, it is a remarkable group of folks that are there. And 
what they do, the attitude they do it with, the speed and the 
efficiency they do it with, are really a tremendous group of 
folks. And if you get the opportunity to be able to come to 
Oklahoma City and Tulsa and to be able to meet those folks, I 
would encourage you to be able to do it and to be able to see 
how they are doing it because they are really doing it 
extremely well.
    And I know they are in a process in our airport, have taken 
time to be able to merge several sites and doing what all other 
ports are doing right now. They are really doing a remarkable 
job. Let me ask you a couple of quick questions on things. TSA 
has requested an increase of 28 positions on countering 
unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
    Tell me a little bit about what you plan to do with that. 
There is obviously authorization that Congress gave you a 
couple of sessions ago on it. What is happening and what are 
those positions being used for?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. What has happened since the 
congressional authorization is that we have worked through the 
interagency process with the National Security Council staff 
and have developed a concept of operations for counter UAS 
operations in the United States, focused primarily on what we 
call the core 30 airports, the 30 largest airports where if 
there was a disruption in any of those airports, it would have 
a significant cascading effect on the rest of the system in the 
United States.
    So we have a concept of operations. Part of that concept of 
operations was the designation of a lead Federal agency, and 
TSA has been designated as that lead Federal agency. So as the 
lead Federal agency, we have responsibility for making sure 
that con-ops is implemented in a timely fashion. These 
resources provide us with additional staff to do airport 
vulnerability assessments, for example, because we do a 
separate vulnerability assessment for UAS vulnerabilities at 
those core 30 airports.
    We eventually, Senator Lankford, we want to open that 
aperture a bit to get to some still large airports that 
wouldn't be part of the core 30. The other part of that request 
is to provide us some additional attorneys to be able to 
support our counter UAS operation, some additional watch 
standers to do it. And then within the Department of Homeland 
Security's Science and Technology budget, there is a good 
amount of money to do some additional research on the ability 
to detect, monitor, and identify UASs in air space.
    We have good, strong international partnerships and some 
other DHS agencies do counter UAS operations like the Secret 
Service and like the Coast Guard. We are trying to take those 
best examples to be able to provide to airports what we call a 
qualified products list, which is equipment that we have 
tested, we have certified--it meets a certain performance 
threshold and we have determined that it is affordable for 
maintenance and reliability.
    Senator Lankford. Right. But this is for countering the 
threat? This is detection and countering threat.
    Mr. Pekoske. Initially, detection monitoring identification 
just to know what threat is there, and then follow on, on the 
countering.
    Senator Lankford. Okay. Please tell me you are spending 
more on science than you are on attorneys in this process.
    Mr. Pekoske. We definitely are.
    Senator Lankford. Okay, thank you. You listed three of them 
there and I just want to be able to figure out where the 
priorities were on it. And known negations to attorneys. We 
need at least one in the country.
    But that is always my concern, is that we spend a lot on 
consultants and about chasing things rather than the actual 
application of it. So I look forward to seeing that. 28 enough 
to be able to do that? You have got a core 30 facilities there 
that you are doing the evaluation on. Is 28 staff enough for 
that?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, 28 is enough because we are using a lot 
of Federal Air Marshals support to deal with multiple 
assessments and we partner strongly with the FBI on this as 
well.

                            AIRBORNE TOXINS

    Senator Lankford. Okay, thank you. We will want to be able 
to get an update on that and how that is going. In your 
detection obviously you are looking for immediate threats to an 
aircraft, to the staff, to the pilots, all those things coming 
into the aircraft. One of the threats that is out there is an 
airborne release of fentanyl or other chemicals as well.
    How is it going on doing your detection of trying to move 
from explosives and a firearm to different airborne toxins like 
fentanyl or something else that may be getting into an 
aircraft?
    Mr. Pekoske. So we are making some progress on that but 
candidly, you know, most of our focus is on explosives because 
the explosive set is very dynamic, it changes over time. We 
look at the intelligence. We look at what our adversaries are 
developing and try to stay ahead of them in that regard.
    And that spills all the way over to for example canine 
training because we train canines for a certain odor set that 
has got to be constantly refreshed. But that, not to minimize 
the threat from Fentanyl and any other airborne agent.
    Senator Lankford. Okay. I would only say I know that 
Customs and Border Patrol, other folks are working on 
technology to do rapid scanning for things like fentanyl, 
opioids, and all of the things that are coming in. Once they 
are transported into the system, as you mentioned before, if 
someone gets through into the system in any airport, they can 
get through to every airport on it.
    If drugs and contraband or some other things are getting 
in, and some of those could be airborne released and become 
lethal or become an issue as well, all of those technologies I 
would encourage you to work with other areas of DHS and the 
technology they are using for screening to see if there is a 
way to be able to actually build that in the algorithm of what 
we are using for screening as well.
    There are several different companies that are out there 
that do the rapid testing like you do for explosives on your 
hands, for random testing. They do that exact same type of 
testing, to be able to actually test for fentanyl or other 
things as well that might also be helpful for us to be able to 
help do some other detection and that might be something that 
can be built into the screen that you already do.
    So, it is not a second type of test, but if you are already 
doing that swab, it would show up as well in that algorithm. So 
if there are ways that we can help or things that you need 
engagement on, pleased to be able to continue to see your work 
on that. Thank you.

                          SCREENING TECHNOLOGY

    Senator Capito. Thank you, Senator. I had a couple of other 
questions and I am sure Senator Tester does too so we will 
proceed that way. I am not sure I quite understand why we have 
300 CT scanners now and this budget asks for 30 more, and I 
know you have been asked this question a couple different ways. 
What is the maximum number that you think you need in the end? 
And why are we only asking for 30 now as opposed to keeping 
those numbers ramped up to an achievable number?
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, Chairman. You know, the CT acquisition is 
my highest priority acquisition program because of the 
significant improvement it makes in our ability to detect. You 
provided in the fiscal year 2020 budget a little over $200 
million for CT as well. And so we will take that money and 
apply it--once this contract is in place, that money will be, 
those funds will be available to us.
    So if you take the $200 plus million that are in the fiscal 
year 2020 budget plus the $30 million we are requesting in the 
fiscal year 2021 budget. That will give us a good start on the 
acquisition. We think the total number of X-rays is probably 
around 2,400 because we are planning for growth. Air travel is 
increasing it roughly 4 percent year-over-year.
    The other aspect that I would highlight for you is that we 
have very strong partnerships with the carriers in the airports 
on technology, and the Congress provided those the legal 
authority to accept technology as a gift from the private 
sector. And we can also accept services as a gift from a 
private sector entity now. We have found the carriers in the 
airports to be very generous in gifting this technology.
    Senator Capito. So is that occurring right now?
    Mr. Pekoske. That is occurring right now. Yes, ma'am.
    Senator Capito. So are you saying that the money that we 
gave in fiscal year 2020 combined with this money is only going 
to go for the 300 initial? Are you saying this was for the 30?
    Mr. Pekoske. No, no. The 300 initial were funded in fiscal 
year 2019.
    Senator Capito. Okay, so that is done. So you will combine 
that so it will be more than 30 in the end?
    Mr. Pekoske. We will.
    Senator Capito. Okay. But still that is so slow if your 
requirement--and of course the technology is going to change in 
the next 10 years. So by the time you get the CT scanner to 
Yeager airport, it is going to be off to something else.
    Mr. Pekoske. Well, actually we think the CT technology is 
an enduring technology, but what will change is all the 
software that goes into that technology. And so one of the 
reasons that we wanted to put them all in this new procurement 
is where we have several different algorithm development 
processes going on at the same time. And we, for example, just 
now issued a new release on a testing basis that has vastly 
improved detection capability. So we are going to step up the 
capability over time. But we just found that both the vendors 
and the agency needed a bit more time to make sure as we deploy 
these.
    Senator Capito. Okay. I know also in rural airports, and 
one of the issues is and it was pointed out when I went on the 
tour with you is, sometimes there is confined spaces or there 
is not enough place to conveniently locate these machines. 
There are a little larger so that reconfiguring the airport is 
a challenge for our smaller airports, so I understand that.
    Let me talk about the CAT procurement. It is along the same 
lines. You are deploying that now but there is no plan for this 
same technology to go into the smaller airports. How do you 
intend to ensure that the smaller airports are going to have 
something like this or this kind of security? I mean, we 
obviously saw Senator Tester mention 9/11.
    We saw that the perpetrators came in through the smaller 
airport. And so I know you take each airport just too 
seriously. If you could respond to that.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, ma'am. You know, we fully intend to start 
a continuation for the CAT program, beginning in likely fiscal 
year 2022 to be able to address the smaller airports. When this 
program was initially put in place several years ago, it was 
just for the larger airports, but to your point, you know, the 
smaller airports are airports we need to pay just as much 
attention to.
    The other part is that at the smaller airports, it was 
sometimes difficult to make the high-speed data secure 
connections at the smaller airports than it would be at a large 
airport.
    Senator Capito. Well, that would be rural broadband, right?
    Mr. Pekoske. That is right.

                              TSA STAFFING

    Senator Capito. That is our other committee. We talk about 
that all time. Let me just see if I can kind of rapid fire 
really quickly. How many TSA agents do you have right now, 
approximately?
    Mr. Pekoske. Approximately 45,000.
    Senator Capito. And this budget provides you for an 
additional----
    Mr. Pekoske. A very small number, actually. It provides us 
for about a 1.7 percent increase, but we think that--and we 
should always try to find as much efficiency in our process as 
we can. The thing that is very important here, and one of the 
reasons why those pay initiatives are in the budget is, as you 
know, TSA has an attrition rate amongst that 45,000 person 
workforce of about 17 percent on average across the system. 
That was last year. This year has already come down to 
somewhere around 12 percent is running right now.
    What I hope happens, and I know hope is not a method but I 
think we have got some analysis to support this, is that as we 
put out these pay initiatives, our retention will go up. And I 
am putting a lot of attention on making sure that we address 
all of the workplace issues that our officers and anybody in 
TSA has identified in the annual surveys we do.
    I mean, I read those things when I visit an airport, I 
visit a field office, for example. I look at their individual 
survey results so I know what the workforce has said about how 
we are doing as an agency. So it is a very concerted effort to 
bring the attrition numbers down so that I don't spend money 
recruiting and training people that are going to leave in a 
very short period of time.
    Senator Capito. Well, I commend you too on the plan that 
you have. Obviously the two gentleman behind you are part of 
that where your detailing off the front lines, TSA agents and 
others to make sure that you are listening exactly to what is 
going on in the day-to-day life of a TSA agent and what their 
specific concerns can be. So I think that obviously gone to the 
benefit.
    Senator Tester.

                                REAL ID

    Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Capito. I would just say 
that a lot of the numbers I am having a hard time making them 
add up in my mind and that we are going to have a 4 percent 
increase in flyers, we have got a 1 percent increase in 
potential bringing folks on. You are going to have to bump up 
your salaries, which I agree by the way, at least at the 
smaller airports where you got folks coming in, working three 
hours, leaving and coming back.
    So I hope you can make that work. If you do, we need to put 
you work on the Appropriations committee. Maybe the lead 
staffer. I want to talk about Real ID for a second. You exist 
to keep our traveling passengers safe.
    The outfit that really benefits is the airlines, and I know 
you worked very, very well with the airlines, but there might 
be a possibility--when I get my ticket on this, or if it is a 
paper ticket, if they would put on that ticket, if you don't 
have a Real ID, this ticket is worthless, it might help you. 
Because every time I get on a plane, I look at that and it is 
like having a thing on a pack of cigarettes that says, if you 
smoke this it is going to cause cancer, it might be a 
possibility.
    Have you approached the airlines about doing something like 
that?
    Mr. Pekoske. We have, sir. Some airlines have voluntarily 
started to do that. We are looking at a requirement for not 
just purchasing of tickets because oftentimes tickets are 
purchased by third-party vendors.
    Senator Tester. But don't you still have to get a ticket 
from Delta or United or from a third party vendor.
    Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
    And you get that ticket at check-in. So part of what we are 
looking at is, as you check in, it is going to say, hey, 
remember you have got to have a Real ID driver's license.
    Senator Tester. You are right, though. There are some--I 
mean I am trying to get as many--but it is amazing how many 
people travel with these things now and don't have paper 
tickets, which would be pretty damn simple and pretty cost-
effective, I would think. Just a thought.
    Mr. Pekoske. And that CAT technology, by the way, Senator, 
you don't need a boarding pass for TSA purposes once the CAT.
    Senator Tester. Bingo. That is right. No, I mean I went 
through an Indianapolis Airport that had it. I was pretty 
amazed because I asked them do you want to see my ticket and 
they said, no. I said, why not?
    [Laughter.]

                                PRECHECK

    Senator Tester. At any rate, TSA PreCheck reached a 
milestone of 10 million. Congratulations. I am also aware that 
TSA entered into some partnerships with some private companies 
to increase enrollment. As TSA PreCheck expands, what is your 
overall goal? Everybody?
    Mr. Pekoske. Well, everybody won't qualify, but we would 
like to see as many applicants as we possibly can because we 
know a lot about--these are called trusted travelers. We know a 
lot about trusted travelers. And so we adjust our screening 
process to accommodate.
    Senator Tester. Bingo and I love it. How many additional 
folks are going to be registered by the private sector vendors? 
What have you been told?
    Mr. Pekoske. Well, you know, we are seeing PreChecks, 
Senator, increased by about 18 percent year-over-year, and one 
of the things that we are doing is we are taking people that 
used to get----
    Senator Tester. Got to get more. I mean this the first time 
you went with private sector vendors?
    Mr. Pekoske. We should get more with having a private 
sector vendor right now. This adds two additional vendors.
    Senator Tester. Okay, so won't that increase it?
    Mr. Pekoske. It will and it will also put price competition 
in there as well because those vendors may want to bundle other 
things that they offer, and they will compete on price for 
PreCheck for the things that don't involve the checks that we 
do as a Government.
    Senator Tester. And so you are confident that it will be 
taken care by fees and not add additional cost to the agency?
    Mr. Pekoske. I am and I am hoping to see a much higher 
level of PreCheck registration for a different reason too is 
that PreCheck is going to be even faster than what it is today.
    Senator Tester. Yes. Well, I can tell you that the line at 
DCA, it is often quicker to go through the line that is not 
PreCheck because it is so long. Truthfully, I mean it has been 
a very successful program, very successful.
    Mr. Pekoske. Right, but we need to work to address some of 
those disincentives to make sure that PreCheck on average, 
Senator, is always reliably five minutes or less. Every once in 
a while it will spike up, but it comes down very, very fast.
    Senator Tester. So the heart and soul of your organization 
is the guy sitting right behind you and all the people that he 
represents, and I will just tell you that we are going to be 
working on this budget moving forward. You make good decisions 
with good information. You need to give us good information, 
okay? Thank you. Appreciate it.
    Senator Capito. Thank you. Well, this concludes today's 
hearing. Administrator Pekoske, we appreciate you appearing 
before the subcommittee, really do, and your fine work. You are 
always very thorough and very simple in your explanations, 
which I appreciate because well, we are simple people here and 
we need those explanations. But in all seriousness, talking to 
the American public, you have to be as direct as you possibly 
can.
    Senator Tester. And neither one of us are lawyers.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    Senator Capito. Yes. The hearing record will remain open 
for two weeks from today. Senators may submit written questions 
for the record. We ask that the Department respond to them 
within a reasonable amount of time.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Capito. I will say this, last week's hearing with 
the Acting head of the Department, I did get the answer to my 
question back in less than a week. So if he is listening, thank 
you very much for that. So this subcommittee stands in recess. 
Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 11:05 a.m., Tuesday, March 3, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]