The Committee on Homeland Security has sole jurisdiction over all Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security matters, including the security of passengers and cargo within the U.S. aviation system.Ten years after al-Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, terrorists continue to focus on commercial aircraft as a top target. As demonstrated by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's Christmas Day 2009 attack on Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253, TSA and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies must constantly work to improve passenger screening technologies and processes to respond to and stay ahead of evolving threats posed by our skillful and adaptive enemy. While enhanced imaging technology and enhanced pat-down procedures are necessary today to protect American travelers, rigorous oversight and privacy protections must be in place. The Committee conducts robust oversight of TSA's deployment of technology and implementation of procedures related to passenger screening.

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TSA has implemented numerous initiatives designed to enhance aviation security, but has collected limited information on the effectiveness of these initiatives in protecting commercial aircraft. Our recent work on passenger screening found that little testing or other data exist that measures the performance of screeners in detecting threat objects. However, TSA is taking steps to collection data on the effectiveness of its security initiatives, including developing a 5-year performance plan detailing numerous performance measures, as well a implementing several efforts to collect performance data on the effectiveness of passenger screening-such as fielding the Threat Image Projection System and increasing screener testing.