washingtonpost.com=20 Air Security Agency Faces Reduced Role=20 Stone Is Third Chief to Leave By Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 8, 2005; Page A01 The Transportation Security Administration, once the flagship agency in = the nation's $20 billion effort to protect air travelers, is now = targeted for sharp cuts in its high-profile mission. The latest sign came yesterday when the Bush administration asked David = M. Stone, the TSA's director, to step down in June, according to = aviation and government sources. Stone is the third top administrator to = leave the three-year-old agency, which was created in the chaos and = patriotism following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The TSA = absorbed divisions of other agencies such as the Federal Aviation = Administration only to find itself the subject of a massive Department = of Homeland Security reorganization. The TSA has been plagued by operational missteps, public relations = blunders and criticism of its performance from both the public and = legislators. Its "No Fly" list has mistakenly snared senators. Its = security screeners have been arrested for stealing from luggage, and its = passenger pat-downs have set off an outcry from women. Under provisions of President Bush's 2006 budget proposal favored by = Congress, the TSA will lose its signature programs in the reorganization = of Homeland Security. The agency will likely become just manager of = airport security screeners -- a responsibility that itself could = diminish as private screening companies increasingly seek a comeback at = U.S. airports. The agency's very existence, in fact, remains an open = question, given that the legislation creating the Department of Homeland = Security contains a clause permitting the elimination of the TSA as a = "distinct entity" after November 2004. "TSA, at the end of the day, is going to look more like the Postal = Service," said Paul C. Light, a public service professor at New York = University and a Brookings Institution scholar who has tracked the = agency since its birth in February 2002. Light calls the TSA "one of the = federal government's greatest successes of the past half-century," and = likens it to the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space = Administration in the late 1950s, which was also born during great = public excitement to serve an urgent national need. But the TSA's time in the spotlight is over and it should now step back = to serve a more narrow role, Light said. "It's a labor-intensive = delivery organization that is not going to be making many public policy = decisions. Its basic job is to train and deploy screeners," he said. Bush administration officials say they don't expect the demise of the = TSA, adding they will know little about the future of the agency until = new Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff completes his review of = the department, which will likely prompt major changes. "TSA has taken significant steps to enhance the nation's transportation = and aviation security over the course of the past two years, and TSA = continues to have the confidence, not only of nation's air travelers, = but of departmental leadership, to continue in this important mission," = said Brian Roehrkasse, a Homeland Security spokesman. "Secretary = Chertoff is open to adjustments in the way that DHS does business but = will not advocate for or against any change until a thorough review of = the changes is complete." The review is expected to be completed in May = or June. The government has pumped more money into airline security than any = other Homeland Security effort. Much of it goes toward salaries for more = than 45,000 security screeners at over 400 airports. Travelers know the TSA mostly by its operations at the airport security = checkpoint, a highly public role that magnifies the agency's smallest = blunders and often forces it to defend itself. "Most Republicans didn't want to create this [agency] in the first = place. Democrats see security as an easy target. So you don't have = anyone to defend it," said C. Stewart Verdery Jr., a former assistant = secretary for policy and planning at Homeland Security's border and = transportation security directorate, which includes the TSA. "If someone = sneaks a knife through an airport, it makes the news. If the Coast Guard = misses a drug boat, no one hears about it." The TSA won early plaudits for swiftly building the first new federal = agency in decades and restoring confidence in the nation's aviation = system. It achieved 51 goals demanded by Congress under tight deadlines = and took over many responsibilities from the FAA, including the = expansion and operation of a program of undercover air marshals. At its = peak, it had 66,000 federal employees and met deadlines that were = unthinkable by the federal government, installing luggage-scanning = technology and hiring a new workforce of airport security screeners = within a year. Bit by bit, however, the agency's responsibilities have steadily = dwindled through a succession of directors. Many of its operations have = been folded into Homeland Security, which it joined in 2003. The TSA = scrapped early plans to create a broad law-enforcement division. The air = marshals, who lobbied to leave the agency, were transferred to the = department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division -- to the = dismay of TSA leaders. Next, the explosives unit left. Now, the agency's = high-tech research labs in Atlantic City are also going to another = division of the department. Last week, momentum accelerated in the push to replace federal screeners = with private contractors at the nation's airports. FirstLine = Transportation Security, a Cleveland-area private security firm, became = the first company to win approval for liability coverage under the = SAFETY Act, which means that if the firm takes over checkpoints, claims = will be capped in the event of a terrorist attack. The move clears a = major hurdle in the return of private screening companies. The law = creating the TSA allowed for federal screeners to be replaced by private = companies after two years. "We need to step back and look at the billions of dollars we spent on = the system, which doesn't provide much more protection than we had = before 9/11," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), referring to tests = conducted by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general that = gave a "poor" rating to TSA screeners for their ability to catch weapons = at checkpoints. Mica, a key lawmaker who helped write the law that = created the agency and chairs the House aviation subcommittee, would = like to see private contractors take over screening jobs at airports. = "TSA was something we put in place in an emergency, but it needs to = evolve. You could whittle TSA down to a very small organization and do a = much better job." Each of the TSA's three leaders has had a distinct management style and = approach to security, creating a culture of perpetual change. Its first = leader, John W. Magaw, was a former head of the U.S. Secret Service who = wanted to make the TSA into a broad law enforcement agency with police = at every checkpoint and agents directing investigations at airports. = After six months of protest from Congress and the airline industry, = Magaw was replaced by a popular, industry-friendly former Coast Guard = Commandant, James M. Loy. Loy spent much of his first year getting rid = of what he called Magaw's "stupid rules" such as the secondary screening = at the gates. Loy was so well liked that he was promoted to the number = two job at Homeland Security, from which he resigned along with former = secretary Tom Ridge earlier this year. Stone, the TSA's current leader, is new to Washington and has been known = for his cautious -- some say near paranoid -- approach to security. He = presides over a much slimmer TSA, with 52,000 employees, and said he = supports the president's proposed changes and is happy to give up = programs -- even large ones. "I'm a big optimist," Stone said in a = recent interview in his office, which looks out on the side of the = Pentagon hit by an American Airlines jet in the 2001 attacks. "I'm not = really concerned about turf if that's what is best for the American = people. I want to look back 10 years from now and say we did it right at = TSA." TSA and Homeland Security spokesmen declined to comment on Stone's = departure. "We don't discuss personnel issues," Roehrkasse said. Every morning, Stone begins a daily two- to four-hour intelligence = meeting, in which he and 40 of his top managers review incident reports = from the country's 429 major airports and from train, bus and trucking = systems. They comb reports of evacuated terminals, unruly passengers and = unattended bags, looking for the next big threat. Travelers, airport workers and flight crew members involved in incidents = are nominated to the government's "watch lists," meaning they will be = singled out for extra screening the next time they arrive at an airport. = So-called "selectees" wind up on the agency's secret list because they = disrupted a flight -- not necessarily because they are viewed as = terrorists. For at least six months, the selectees will be pulled aside = for extra scrutiny every time they fly. Several thousand names are = believed to be on the list. Stone, 52, said the exercise shows that the TSA still serves a critical = role in the nation's intelligence network. He has told Chertoff that he = hopes the agency will keep this role. Airlines have complained that hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent = passengers, and even pilots, have been added to the TSA's selectee list = or that some names are confused with those on the "No Fly" list, = subjecting travelers to hassles. At a February meeting between the TSA and 18 major carriers, airline = representatives were asked who had crew members on the list and "they = all raised their hands," said one airline source who was present. = Airline officials said crew members on the list must be stripped of = their badges and cannot perform their duties, according to TSA rules. Stone said "one or two" pilots who are approved to carry guns in the = cockpit have been put on the selectee list in the past year. He said he = recalls a "handful" of other pilots who have been added to the selectee = list because they were involved in "outrageous" incidents. He cited an = incident last year in which an intoxicated pilot punched a patron at a = restaurant and threatened him. "We take all of these incidents seriously and we work to resolve them = quickly because we know that people's livelihoods are at stake," said = Mark Hatfield, a TSA spokesman. Stone faces the challenge of keeping the TSA's workforce motivated. Many = screeners took their jobs expecting that the new agency would provide a = path to a federal career. At a recent hearing, Stone acknowledged that = screeners suffer from low morale. According to an internal survey last = year, 35 percent of employees are satisfied with their job. Stone said other security directors sympathize with him, saying: "You've = got the toughest job in federal government. You're under the gun for = every little thing. You're constantly under the microscope."