TSA and Industry Efforts to Enhance General Aviation Security

As shown in table 1, TSA and other industry stakeholders have taken a  number of actions to enhance general aviation security. In addition to the survey, TSA also gathers information on security  measures implemented by operators through outreach activities its  inspectors conduct at general aviation airports, designed to establish a  cooperative relationship with general aviation airport stakeholders and  encourage voluntary adoption of security enhancements. As previously mentioned, TSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for  a Large Aircraft Security Program in October 2008, which would have  resulted in all general aviation aircraft larger than 12,500 pounds,  including those not currently covered under existing security programs,  being subject to TSA security requirements and inspections. Further, officials from all six of the industry  associations we interviewed stated that TSA has reached out to industry  in developing its new rule and three of the six associations stated that  TSA has performed a better job of reaching out to industry in its ongoing  development of the new rule than it did with the rule it proposed in 2008. To determine whether  foreign nationals applying for FAA airman certificates had previously  applied to AFSP and been vetted by TSA, we obtained data from FAA’s  airmen registry on foreign nationals who had applied for airman  certificates and provided these data to TSA so that the agency could  conduct a matching process to determine whether the foreign nationals in  the FAA airmen registry were in TSA’s AFSP database and the extent to  which they had been successfully vetted through the AFSP database. However, TSA officials  acknowledged that it is possible for a foreign national to be approved by  TSA through AFSP and to complete flight training after entering the  country illegally or overstaying his or her allotted time to be in the country  legally. Having a road map, with  appropriate steps and time frames, and individuals assigned with  responsibility and accountability for fully instituting a pilot program, as well  as instituting that pilot program if it was found to help identify foreign  nationals taking flight training who may be in violation of their immigration  status or who may have entered the country illegally, could help TSA and  ICE account for flight students with potential immigration violations, and  thus better position TSA to identify and prevent a potential risk. Conclusions

Since our 2004 report on general aviation security, TSA has taken steps  to enhance communications and interactions with general aviation  industry stakeholders as well as improve the vetting of foreign nationals  enrolling in U.S. flight schools. AFSP was implemented to help prevent  future occurrences of foreign nationals obtaining flight training to commit  terrorist attacks, as they did for the September 11, 2001, attacks. To better ensure that TSA is able to identify foreign nationals with  immigration violations who may be applying to the Alien Flight Student  Program, we recommend the Secretary of Homeland Security direct the  Administrator of TSA and the Director of ICE to collaborate to take the  following action:
Develop a plan, with time frames, and assign individuals with  responsibility and accountability for assessing the results of a pilot  program to check TSA AFSP data against information DHS has on  applicants’ admissibility status to help detect and identify violations,  such as overstays and entries without inspection, by foreign flight  students, and institute that pilot program if it is found to be effective. In its comments, DHS also referred to additional recommendations  related to TSA’s vetting of foreign nationals. Because DHS deemed the  details of these recommendations and its response as sensitive security  information, they are not included in the public version of this report. (2) To what  extent has TSA ensured that foreign flight students seeking flight training  in the United States do not pose a security threat? To identify actions TSA and general aviation aircraft operators have taken  to enhance security and how TSA has obtained information on the  implementation of the operators’ actions, we examined documentation on  TSA’s inspection processes for monitoring aircraft operators’  implementation of security programs, including the Transportation  Security Inspector Inspections Handbook, the National Investigations and  Enforcement Manual, and the Compliance Work Plan for Transportation  Security Inspectors. To assess the extent to which TSA has ensured that foreign flight  students seeking flight training in the United States do not pose a security  threat, we reviewed our recent reports related to DHS security threat  assessment processes, and TSA guidance related to procedures for  conducting security threat assessments of several agency programs,  including AFSP.
Why GAO Did This Study

U.S. government threat assessments have discussed plans by terrorists to use general aviation aircraftgenerally, aircraft not available to the public for transportto conduct attacks. Also, the September 11, 2001, terrorists learned to fly at flight schools, which are within the general aviation community. TSA, within DHS, has responsibilities for general aviation security, and developed AFSP to ensure that foreign students enrolling at flight schools do not pose a security threat. GAO was asked to assess (1) TSA and general aviation industry actions to enhance security and TSA efforts to obtain information on these actions and (2) TSA efforts to ensure foreign flight students do not pose a security threat. GAO reviewed TSA analysis comparing FAA data from January 2006 to September 2011 on foreign nationals applying for airman certificates with AFSP data, and interviewed 22 general aviation operators at eight airports selected to reflect geographic diversity and variations in types of operators. This is a public version of a sensitive security report GAO issued in June 2012. Information TSA deemed sensitive has been omitted, including two recommendations on TSAs vetting of foreign nationals.

What GAO Found

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and aircraft operators have taken several important actions to enhance general aviation security, and TSA is gathering input from operators to develop additional requirements. For example, TSA requires that certain general aviation aircraft operators implement security programs. Aircraft operators under these programs must, among other things, develop and maintain TSA-approved security programs. TSA has also conducted outreach to the general aviation community to establish a cooperative relationship with general aviation stakeholders. In 2008, TSA developed a proposed rule that would have imposed security requirements on all aircraft over 12,500 pounds, including large aircraft that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) analysis has shown could cause significant damage in an attack. In response to industry concerns about the proposed rules costs and security benefits, TSA is developing a new proposed rule. Officials from all six industry associations GAO spoke with stated that TSA has reached out to gather industrys input, and three of the six associations stated that TSA has improved its efforts to gather input since the 2008 notice of proposed rulemaking.
TSA vets foreign flight student applicants through its Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP), but weaknesses exist in the vetting process and in DHSs process for identifying flight students who may be in the country illegally. From January 2006 through September 2011, more than 25,000 foreign nationals had applied for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman certificates (pilots licenses), indicating they had completed flight training. However, TSA computerized matching of FAA data determined that some known number of foreign nationals did not match with those in TSAs database, raising questions as to whether they had been vetted. In addition, AFSP is not designed to determine whether a foreign flight student entered the country legally; thus, a foreign national can be approved for training through AFSP after entering the country illegally. A March 2010 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flight school investigation led to the arrest of six such foreign nationals, including one who had a commercial pilots license. As a result, TSA and ICE jointly worked on vetting names of foreign students against immigration databases, but have not specified desired outcomes and time frames, or assigned individuals with responsibility for fully instituting the program. Having a road map, with steps and time frames, and assigning individuals the responsibility for fully instituting a pilot program could help TSA and ICE better identify and prevent potential risk. The sensitive security version of this report discussed additional information related to TSAs vetting process for foreign nationals seeking flight training.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that TSA identify how often and why foreign nationals are not vetted under AFSP and develop a plan for assessing the results of efforts to identify AFSP-approved foreign flight students who entered the country illegally. DHS concurred with GAOs recommendations and indicated actions it is taking in response.