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Contractors Complain of TSA Limits

Contractors Complain of TSA Limits

Old Nov 21, 2003, 5:55 am
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Contractors Complain of TSA Limits

From today's Washington Post:

"A pilot program to test the effectiveness of privately employed screeners at U.S. airports is yielding few security innovations or cost savings because of constraints imposed by the Transportation Security Administration, government investigators and private contractors said.

The program is aimed at determining whether employees of private security companies could screen passengers and luggage as well as or better than the federal workforce hired last year. But screening companies yesterday told the House Committee on Government Reform that they had little flexibility in operating security checkpoints and were prevented from adequately training their employees."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Nov20.html

(Free registration req'd)

Is anyone REALLY surprised?
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Old Nov 21, 2003, 7:15 am
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Like I have said all along, the TSA will still be calling the shots no matter who is manning the checkpoint. So for those calling for "private" screeners, you will see little to no difference in procedures or policies. The costs won't even go down much if at all, because the private companies will be working for the TSA, who is issuing the contracts.

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Old Nov 21, 2003, 7:43 am
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Keep saying it, but it's looking like more and more people are willing to speak out against the TSA and their useless actions.

There's no reason to keep this disgrace of an agency in charge of anything, including the food court.

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Old Nov 21, 2003, 8:01 am
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Thats your opinion Spiff, but you know as well as I do that not a single gov't agency, once created, has EVER been shut down. Their responsibilities have been farmed out to other agencies, and they have been shrunk in size, but they always remain. History and the power of empire building will prove me right in the end.

Private screeners or not, TSA administration will be pulling the strings and you will be ranting for years to come and I will enjoy reading.

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Old Nov 21, 2003, 9:14 am
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Interesting article.

I am currently a student at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and am in a course on privatization analysis. On the first day of class we discussed the TSA takeover of airport security.

After all the back and forth, the professor noted that on September 11th, airport security in the U.S. was already not a very profitable business. Apparently even with all the corner-cutting by Argenbright & Co. (hiring people with criminal backgrounds, high turnover, etc.), these companies were barely making a profit on security operations.

With the additional standards imposed post-9/11 (I agree some of them are silly, but some, like real background checks, do make sense), would most private security firms be able to make a profit?

Yonatan
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Old Nov 21, 2003, 9:56 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by yonatan:
Interesting article.

I am currently a student at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and am in a course on privatization analysis. On the first day of class we discussed the TSA takeover of airport security.

After all the back and forth, the professor noted that on September 11th, airport security in the U.S. was already not a very profitable business. Apparently even with all the corner-cutting by Argenbright & Co. (hiring people with criminal backgrounds, high turnover, etc.), these companies were barely making a profit on security operations.

With the additional standards imposed post-9/11 (I agree some of them are silly, but some, like real background checks, do make sense), would most private security firms be able to make a profit?

Yonatan
</font>
I guess it probably depends on how big the Security Co is and how many "contracts" it has. It will be subsidized by the TSA (taxpayer) but I say yes they will make a profit. As long as they're not having everyone remove their shoes and other ridiculous "in the name of safety" policies. As long as they don't evacuate an entire airport because a sparkler was found in the "sterile" area. As long as they don't attempt to search all 6,800 airplanes in the USA because a few boxcutters, some play dough, bleach and a note indicating the finder should contact authorities were found.
If they perform "real" security and not this farce the TSA call security the fleecing will stop and they may eventually profit.

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Old Nov 21, 2003, 10:51 am
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It takes brains to (usually) run a successful business, and a valid Business Plan is a necessity. Overall I dont see any evidence either of these anywhere.

MisterNice
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Old Nov 21, 2003, 1:28 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by yonatan:

With the additional standards imposed post-9/11 (I agree some of them are silly, but some, like real background checks, do make sense), would most private security firms be able to make a profit?

Yonatan
</font>
The same way that the contractors for the MBTA (like the one that just took over the commuter rail operations from Amtrak) make money even though the agency as a whole requires federal and state support to fund operations.

(Your K-school classrooms are built over the former Eliot Yard of the Dorchester-Cambridge Subway a.k.a. the Red Line)
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Old Nov 21, 2003, 1:38 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by HeHateY:
The same way that the contractors for the MBTA (like the one that just took over the commuter rail operations from Amtrak) make money even though the agency as a whole requires federal and state support to fund operations.

(Your K-school classrooms are built over the former Eliot Yard of the Dorchester-Cambridge Subway a.k.a. the Red Line)
</font>
So your answer then is no, they would not be profitable.

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