Congress needs to approve pay parity for TSA

Protecting millions of airline travelers is neither easy nor cheap, but these investments are worth it: A single failure would cost hundreds of lives, and the resulting disruptions would cost billions of dollars. In the frantic wrap-up of this Congressional session, one modest but vital issue must not be overlooked: pay parity for front-line airport screening officers who keep air travelers safe and secure.

Congress can correct one of today’s most important security and managerial challenges in homeland security: the pay system designed for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has not worked well. Congress needs to appropriate now the money to close the pay parity gap. This requires a reasonable compromise on a start date for the fix. Fixing TSA’s pay problem is now a homeland security priority.

Congress established TSA in November 2001 after gaps in airport security on 9/11 allowed nineteen terrorists to hijack four planes, killing almost 3,000 people. TSA’s dedication and unceasing efforts, along with others’, have prevented any repeat of the 9/11 attack — even though many terrorists have tried. As the former top career counterterrorism policy official at the Department of Homeland Security, I know airplanes are still among terrorists’ most sought-after targets.

Security measures need to out-perform terrorists at every turn. Every terrorist “innovation” must be matched by advances to protect the traveling public. Terrorists used guns to hijack planes in the 1960s and 1970s until metal detectors became universal. The 9/11 hijackers used multiple attackers and box cutters too small for metal detectors, which led to widespread use of passenger information systems and better screening techniques. After 9/11 came shoe bombs, explosive liquids, and non-metallic explosives in laptops and even underwear. Every terrorist innovation had to be met by more sophisticated technology and better screening practices.

To protect the traveling public, TSA recruits, hires, trains, and needs to retain tens of thousands of front-line officers. Because screening equipment increases in sensitivity and complexity, re-training on the latest equipment is a constant requirement. The human element is equally vital. Anyone who watched “24” or “NCIS” understands that no traveler can be entirely given a pass during screening, but TSA uses risk-based measures and trains officers to recognize suspicious indicators so that potential threats get more attention than those known to be less of a threat. Experience counts in airport screening and transportation security.

Retaining an experienced workforce is thus vital to transportation security, which is why TSA’s current pay mess is a security vulnerability.

The pay system set up after 9/11 was not built on the pay systems that helped make the FBI and other Federal law enforcement agencies highly capable. Instead, Congress adapted the “pay band” system of the Federal Aviation Administration — but hobbled both TSA management and TSA officers by limiting funding to adapt the system to keep up with increasingly complex technology and private sector competition.

The result created a perfect storm of Federal employee relations. In annual surveys of federal civilian workforce morale, TSA now ranks 426 out of 432 agencies. The chief reason for TSA’s low rank is low pay according to several independent studies. As one knowledgeable expert put it, TSA is competing for talent against Amazon fulfillment centers — and losing.

Low pay at TSA has led to recruiting problems and high turnover, in which experienced officers leave after a few years because they discover their pay will not reasonably progress beyond the bottom of the pay scale. High-performing front-line TSO officers will enter the “E” pay band after two years’ service — but will be stuck there the rest of their careers. Congress requires no other homeland security or law enforcement agency to treat its front-line officers this way.

DHS and TSA leadership have committed to address this crisis, but previous wholesale efforts to fix TSA’s personnel system by Congressional action have faltered. One creditable effort, H.R. 903, “The Rights for the TSA Workforce Act of 2021,” sought to put TSA employees under the same personnel system as most federal civilian workers, but this failed to make it into this year’s authorization bill.

Given the urgency of the need to fix TSA’s pay system, the simplest approach may be the best: Just fix pay levels for TSA officers.

This is the proposal currently before House and Senate appropriators. The choice is between starting the new pay levels in April 2023 or July 2023. The cost for April-September 2023 would be approximately $475-$500 million, with July-September 2023 about half that. TSA would be expected to pay this through offsetting savings. There are other TSA-related issues that divide the Congress, including bringing TSA employees under full civil service protections. While important, this issue is not likely to be resolved in time.

A Congressional fix to TSA pay should not be held up over secondary issues, important though they are. Congress should act now to increase pay for TSA’s officers in order to keep the traveling public safe and secure.

Thomas Warrick is a senior fellow and director of the Future of DHS Project at the Atlantic Council. From 2008 to 2019 he served as the Department of Homeland Security Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Policy.

NOTE: This post has been updated from the original to correct the cost for the April-September 2023 option mentioned in the 12th paragraph: It would be approximately $475-$500 million.