TSA has reneged on a five-year old pledge to to improve covert
security testing at the nation's air****ts, whistleblower shrills .
Expert says air****t security still lacking
Saturday, May 10, 2008
BY RON MARSICO
Newark Star-Ledger Staff
Aviation officials have reneged on an agreement made more than five
years ago to improve covert security testing and results at the
nation's air****ts, a prominent federal whistleblower alleges in a
complaint scheduled to be filed Monday.
Bogdan Dzakovic, who testified before the 9/11 Commission after
raising concerns about air****t screening operations before the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is raising the allegations against the
U.S. Trans****tation Security Administration in papers to be submitted
to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
Dzakovic, a former member of the Federal Aviation Administration's
undercover "Red Team" that conducted pre-9/11 air****t security tests,
now works for the TSA. His case is being handled by the Government
Accountability Project, a nonprofit group in Wa****ngton, D.C.,
dedicated to helping whistleblowers.
Tom Devine, a GAP lawyer, said Dzakovic had prepared a "Lessons
Learned" re****t for the TSA, based on his FAA experiences, that was to
be used by the TSA to help fix problems with its covert security
testing and results of those tests.
"Not only was the re****t ig nored, but Bogdan became persona non grata
for any work related to airline security," Devine said.
In papers submitted to the Government Accountability Project, Dzakovic
wrote that "the gist of my re****t...is that all these technological
'layers' of security that FAA espoused can be fairly easily
cir***vented by would-be attack ers; and that TSA is basically doing
the exact same thing as the FAA before it.
"But rather than learn from the past, hold people accountable and fix
the bureaucratic problems which contributed to the ease with which the
terrorist(s) succeeded on 9/11, TSA plunged the roller coaster of
security to new depths," he wrote.
TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said the agency was not aware g filing.
But, she said, his current position with the TSA "is not in any way
related to covert testing."
She added: "TSA's covert testing program today is very different from
the program in 2002," when Dzakovic challenged the federal agency
after it took over from private screening companies.
Dzakovic is a principal security inspector with the TSA at the
agency's Virginia headquarters, but has for a long time accused
superiors of giving him insignificant duties because of his protected
whistleblower status. He advocates a greater emphasis on behavioral
profiling of passengers rather than relying on technology to thwart
terrorists, while also reducing rote methods of conducting tests.
In a 2003 letter to Congress and President Bush, then-U.S. Special
Counsel Elaine Kaplan praised Dzakovic for his "courage" and said his
allegations had been verified in a re****t by the U.S. Department of
Trans****tation's inspector general.
That re****t, Kaplan wrote, "substantiates the crux of Mr. Dzakovic's
allegation: that the Red Team program was grossly mismanaged and that
the result was the creation of a substantial and specific danger to
public safety."
Kaplan said the inspector general determined "the Red Team
consistently found and re****ted -- throughout its existence -- high
rates of test failure, reflecting often stark localized and systemic
security vulnerabilities."
Post 9/11 U.S. Government Accountability Office investigations have
repeatedly shown screeners miss high percentages of bombs, guns and
other prohibited items.
Ron Marsico can be reached at rmarsico@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or (973)
392-7860.
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