ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Volume ...

Civil Aviation Security, United StatesA customs officer inspects a BodySearch image, which uses x-ray technology to allow inspectors to detect contraband on arriving passengers who choose notto submit to the traditional ‘‘body pat down.’’ AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.❚ JUDSON KNIGHTCivil Aviation Security,United StatesCivil aviation security in the United States is directed bythe Transportation Security Administration (TSA), whichwas created after the terrorist attacks of September 11,2001, under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act(ATSA). Prior to November 19, 2001, when President GeorgeW. Bush signed ATSA into law, the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) handled civil aviation security. The passageof the new law, and the creation of the new administration,required changes to the federal statutes coveringaviation security, which are contained in Title 49 of theCode of Federal Regulations, Chapter XII parts 1500through 1699.ATSA mandated increases in the numbers of federalair marshals, and placed airport security screeners underEncyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Securityfederal control. It required that all screeners be U.S. citizens(a provision later challenged by the American CivilLiberties Union), and that all bags be screened or matchedto passengers. It also included provisions for awards of$1.5 billion to airports and private contractors to meet thedirect costs of meeting new security requirements.The law created TSA, to be headed by a TransportationDepartment undersecretary for security appointed bythe president and confirmed by the Senate. OverseeingTSA would be a new Security Oversight Board consistingof cabinet secretaries, or their designees, from the departmentsof Transportation, Defense, Treasury, Justice, andHomeland Security (the latter, then the Office of HomelandSecurity, became a cabinet-level department on March1, 2003), as well as one representative each from theCentral Intelligence Agency and the National SecurityCouncil.The undersecretary would appoint a federal securitymanager at each airport nationwide, and was authorizedto provide air marshals as he or she saw fit. Each flightdeemed a high security risk would have air marshals, whocould be appointed at the undersecretary’s discretion. Inconsultation with airport and law enforcement officials,209