Inspector General: TSA Training "Can Be Improved"
Nov 17, 2010 | 9:31 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: DTW
Posts: 22
Inspector General: TSA Training "Can Be Improved"
Via the Washington Post Federal Eye Blog. This may partly explain why TSA procedures vary so much from airport to airport.
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson released a DHS Inspector General's report on TSA's training program for screeners. The chart on page 27 is worth the price of admission: new hires get 80 hours of coursework and 60+ hours of on-the-job training. (Or about half the length of my long-ago Air Force basic training.) The report is here:
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtr...1-05_Oct10.pdf
What the IG found was, no surprise, disorganization. Some quick points:
No wonder that when encountering a TSO, YMMV.
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson released a DHS Inspector General's report on TSA's training program for screeners. The chart on page 27 is worth the price of admission: new hires get 80 hours of coursework and 60+ hours of on-the-job training. (Or about half the length of my long-ago Air Force basic training.) The report is here:
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtr...1-05_Oct10.pdf
What the IG found was, no surprise, disorganization. Some quick points:
- TSA established a training division in 2006, but it "did not assume leadership until 2009"
- There is no written procedure for updating training courses
- There are no measures of training program effectiveness
- During OJT, a new screener is most likely to have only one person monitoring him or her
- Employees often don't train on the equipment they will be using
- Some training computers are far from checkpoints, while others are located inside checkpoint areas, where trainees are surrounded by distractions
- Employees are not given adequate time to finish computer-based lessons, so they rush through them
No wonder that when encountering a TSO, YMMV.
Nov 17, 2010 | 10:55 pm
#6
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 60
Nov 18, 2010 | 6:24 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: LAS
Posts: 1,279
Emphasis mine. There are no measures of the effectiveness of anything else in TSA either.
The fact that TSA does not need to prove it is effective (or cost-effective) at any level or for anything should tell everyone what they need to know about this theatrical power grab.
The fact that TSA does not need to prove it is effective (or cost-effective) at any level or for anything should tell everyone what they need to know about this theatrical power grab.
Via the Washington Post Federal Eye Blog. This may partly explain why TSA procedures vary so much from airport to airport.
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson released a DHS Inspector General's report on TSA's training program for screeners. The chart on page 27 is worth the price of admission: new hires get 80 hours of coursework and 60+ hours of on-the-job training. (Or about half the length of my long-ago Air Force basic training.) The report is here:
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtr...1-05_Oct10.pdf
What the IG found was, no surprise, disorganization. Some quick points:
No wonder that when encountering a TSO, YMMV.
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson released a DHS Inspector General's report on TSA's training program for screeners. The chart on page 27 is worth the price of admission: new hires get 80 hours of coursework and 60+ hours of on-the-job training. (Or about half the length of my long-ago Air Force basic training.) The report is here:
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtr...1-05_Oct10.pdf
What the IG found was, no surprise, disorganization. Some quick points:
- TSA established a training division in 2006, but it "did not assume leadership until 2009"
- There is no written procedure for updating training courses
- There are no measures of training program effectiveness
- During OJT, a new screener is most likely to have only one person monitoring him or her
- Employees often don't train on the equipment they will be using
- Some training computers are far from checkpoints, while others are located inside checkpoint areas, where trainees are surrounded by distractions
- Employees are not given adequate time to finish computer-based lessons, so they rush through them
No wonder that when encountering a TSO, YMMV.
Nov 18, 2010 | 11:51 am
#9
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,347
FB
Nov 24, 2010 | 12:42 am
#10
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1
Inspector General Reports TSA Poorly Trained
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2010...tigators-find/
I've been lurking a few days, but haven't seen any discussion of this particular topic.
I know the TSA says their lack of consistency is deliberate, but after reading the IG report (there's a pdf download on the website), its clearly much more likely that they really are just making things up as they go along. And even though the terror threat is evolving, TSA training is not; nor do they have any coherent process to update and disseminate training material. Even for a government agency, that's just pathetic.
I've been lurking a few days, but haven't seen any discussion of this particular topic.
I know the TSA says their lack of consistency is deliberate, but after reading the IG report (there's a pdf download on the website), its clearly much more likely that they really are just making things up as they go along. And even though the terror threat is evolving, TSA training is not; nor do they have any coherent process to update and disseminate training material. Even for a government agency, that's just pathetic.
Nov 24, 2010 | 1:08 am
#12
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: S24
Posts: 106
nice WSJ article
first posted in thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-improved.html
a week ago
first posted in thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-improved.html
a week ago
Nov 24, 2010 | 5:23 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 30,986
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2010...tigators-find/
I've been lurking a few days, but haven't seen any discussion of this particular topic.
I know the TSA says their lack of consistency is deliberate, but after reading the IG report (there's a pdf download on the website), its clearly much more likely that they really are just making things up as they go along. And even though the terror threat is evolving, TSA training is not; nor do they have any coherent process to update and disseminate training material. Even for a government agency, that's just pathetic.
I've been lurking a few days, but haven't seen any discussion of this particular topic.
I know the TSA says their lack of consistency is deliberate, but after reading the IG report (there's a pdf download on the website), its clearly much more likely that they really are just making things up as they go along. And even though the terror threat is evolving, TSA training is not; nor do they have any coherent process to update and disseminate training material. Even for a government agency, that's just pathetic.
I don't think it needed an IG investigation to determine TSA training is poor.
Just ask people in the airports.
Read the TSA Blog.
Read the news!
Nov 24, 2010 | 9:35 am
#15
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
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Inspector General: TSA Training "Can Be Improved"
