Former DoT IG: Long way to go on air cargo security

In February Kenneth Mead stepped down from his post as inspector general of the Department of Transportation (DoT), after serving in that post for nine years. He is now a special counsel in the transportation law practice at the law firm Baker Botts. He believes that many questions still need to be answered before the United States can move to a thorough system of air cargo screening — including who would pay for it. In a wide-ranging interview with CQ, Mead also agreed with some lawmakers that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) puts too much emphasis on aviation security at the expense of other modes of transportation. Nevertheless, he commends the government for being attentive to aviation security. Mead says this is critical because airlines had been conducting security on the cheap prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We note that Mead raised questions about airline security even before his assumption of the IG position at DoT in 1997. In the early 1990s, when he was still with the Government Accountability Office (GAO — although back then, before the 1994 Gingrich revolution, the middle “A” stood for “Accounting” rather than “Accountability”) he sent covert teams to airports to test aviation security. One of his teams successfully slipped a gun and sticks of dynamite through an airport checkpoint. Aviation security gradually improved after that, but Mead says the most sustained improvements happened after the 9/11 attacks when the responsibility for aviation security was transferred from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to the newly formed TSA. Aviation security still has a long way to go, Mead says. More needs to be done to ensure that air cargo is protected and other transportation sectors such as seaports and railways are protected from attacks.

-see Kenneth Mead’s CQ interview with Caitlin Harrington (sub. req.)