"Report rips TSA crisis plan"

Friday, October 6, 2006

Report rips TSA's plans for crisis 
By Thomas Frank
USA TODAY


WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration may not be able to
secure the nation's airports, transit systems and other vital operations
during a terrorist attack, a government report released Thursday says.

The administration's ability to perform "essential functions" during an
attack or other emergency "is at risk" and "could be impaired or fail,"
according to the report, filed after an investigation by the Homeland
Security Department inspector general.

The report criticizes the TSA for having inadequate plans to keep itself
running in a terror attack, disaster or other emergency. 

Such planning "has not been a priority for TSA nor have adequate resources
been available," Inspector General Richard Skinner wrote.

The TSA disputed the predictions, saying it could continue to operate during
an emergency. 

In a statement Thursday, the TSA called its contingency plans effective and
said they got high marks during a recent test of how the agency would
respond to an attack.

In a July letter to Skinner, the TSA said it has made contingency plans a
"high priority" and is rewriting the plan to address shortcomings.

The TSA's potential problems suggest a fundamental flaw with national
security, said Clark Kent Ervin, Skinner's predecessor. "If an agency that's
designed to help the rest of the country recover can't itself recover from
an attack, how helpful can it be to the rest of the country?"

Federal agencies must have plans enabling them to function for 30 days after
an emergency.

The TSA's plan is "cumbersome" because it includes too many activities and
people instead of focusing on priorities, Skinner's report said. 

Some of the actions called for in TSA's current emergency plan include
answering routine complaints and collecting customer feedback.

The TSA doesn't prioritize its plans and never completed a review of them,
the report says.

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