United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-28 monographic deposited born digital 50 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-75 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75 P0b002ee18039a580 f:rc00075 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75 RCED-00-75 Airline industry Airports Search and seizure Terrorism Baggage (personal effects) Transportation safety Performance measures Facility security Foreign governments Security services contracts FAA Civil Aviation Security Program Belgium Canada France Netherlands United Kingdom FAA Air Carrier Standard Security Program Chapter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of screening checkpoints at airports, focusing on the: (1) causes of screeners' problems in detecting dangerous objects and the efforts of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to address these problems; and (2) screening practices of selected foreign countries and the potential for using these practices to help improve screeners' performance in the United States.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) long-standing problems combine to reduce screeners' effectiveness in detecting dangerous objects, most notably: (a) the rapid turnover of screener personnel--often above 100 percent a year at large airports and, in at least one recent instance, above 400 percent a year; and (b) human factors conditions that have for years affected screeners' hiring, training, and working environment; (2) a key factor in the rapid turnover is the low wages screeners receive; (3) screeners are often paid the minimum wage or close to it and can often earn more at airport fast-food restaurants; (4) FAA is pursuing several initiatives to improve the hiring, training, and testing of screeners, to increase their alertness and more closely monitor their performance, and to certify the security companies that air carriers retain to staff screening checkpoints; (5) however, most of these efforts are behind schedule; (6) FAA has established performance improvement goals for screeners, but it has not: (a) completed an integrated plan to tie its various efforts to improve screeners' performance to the achievement of its goals; and (b) adequately measured its progress in achieving its goals for improving screeners' performance; (7) passenger screening procedures in the countries GAO visited are similar to those in the United States; (8) passengers walk through metal detectors at airport checkpoints and have their carry-on baggage scanned by X-ray machines or physically searched by screeners; (9) but there are also some differences; (10) for example, in most countries, screeners must undergo more extensive training, screeners receive higher wages and better benefits, and screening responsibility rests with the government or the airport, not with the air carriers as it does in the United States; (11) among the five countries GAO visited--Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom--the turnover rate for screeners was lower--about 50 percent a year or less--and in a joint test conducted by FAA and one of these countries, screeners' performance was higher; (12) however, the feasibility of applying these countries' practices to screening operations in the United States cannot be readily determined; and (13) given the uncertainty and the fact that FAA has already begun several efforts to improve screeners' performance, GAO is not making recommendations to revise current screening practices in the United States. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75.pdf GAO/RCED-00-75 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-75 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-00-75; Aviation Security: Long-Standing Problems Impair Airport; Airline industry Airports Search and seizure Terrorism Baggage (personal effects) Transportation safety Performance measures Facility security Foreign governments Security services contracts FAA Civil Aviation Security Program Belgium Canada France Netherlands United Kingdom FAA Air Carrier Standard Security Program