Record-breaking summer

TSA predicts record-breaking summer travel as employees head to the border

By STEPHANIE BEASLEY

TSA is bracing for its busiest summer ever, even as airports worry that screening lines could balloon with DHS siphoning employees away from TSA and Customs and Border Protection to bolster its presence at the southern border.

TSA acting Deputy Administrator Patricia Cogswell told POLITICO that the agency is working to staff up in anticipation of the "busiest summer season we have ever had as an agency," with a more than 4 percent increase in travel volumes estimated compared to last summer.

More than 260 million passengers are expected to come through airport checkpoints between the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends — May 23 through Sept. 3 — she said. And TSA is planning to hire an additional 2,000 employees, including bag screeners, she said.

"We allocate it, so they can have them in place right at the beginning of the summer holiday season," she said. "We are expecting this weekend, frankly, to be one of the highest weekends of the entire summer. So, we need them starting immediately."

An official from Seattle-Tacoma airport told a House panel this week that he expects lines to see lines out the parking garage, if the airport loses TSA staff.

Airports Council International's North American division also suggested the diversions would only compound existing TSA and Customs understaffing at airports.

"ACI-NA has grave concerns at the prospect of reducing the number of essential TSA and CBP officers at airports this summer," Christopher Bidwell, the group's senior vice president of security, said. "Many airports are already struggling with long lines at security and Customs, and diverting additional officers to the border with record travel forecast for this summer will further exacerbate the situation."

Cogswell did not directly address the impact of shifting part of TSA's workforce to the border, but said she does not expect the increased volume to affect wait times. However, she added that TSA is encouraging travelers to enroll in PreCheck and to also check the list of prohibited carry-on items before they get up to a screening checkpoint.

"I want to emphasize how critically important our workforce is throughout the year, but in particular, their dedication for the summer," she said, noting that some screeners work overtime during peak travel periods.

But the American Association of Airport Executives urged the administration to reverse course on the reassignments.

We urge the administration to "reconsider these assignments to ensure that long lines at the nation's airports are a bad memory of summers past rather than a reality of the summer ahead," said Stephanie Gupta, AAAE's senior vice president of security and facilitation.

Airlines for America released its own summer travel estimates earlier this week, saying it's expecting 257.4 million air passengers between June 1 and Aug. 31. But rather than suggesting DHS stop diverting employees, the group is urging Congress to provide DHS with supplemental border funding instead.

"Our message has been that it's not sustainable to continue to pull CBP or TSA away from their jobs, especially as we see the numbers of passengers increase over the summer," Sharon Pinkerton, A4A's senior vice president of legislative and regulatory policy, said.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said during a House hearing Wednesday that security would not be impacted by any employee reassignments. However, some House members, like Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), say they remain concerned about the deployments.

The issue is likely to come up again today at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on DHS' fiscal 2020 budget request.

"It's a real possibility because I'm obviously concerned about the funding so they can handle this crisis," said Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

Ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said he's heard from airports and shares their concerns about the impact on summer travel. "I'm going to be asking those questions tomorrow," he said Wednesday.