It looks like the news media's sensationalized stories have begun to
take root:


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Business AVflash Volume 2, Issue 4 -- February 25, 2004
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Is The TSA Coming To An Airport Near You?

TSA Begins To Shift Focus...
Long preoccupied with managing its congressional mandate to federalize
the passenger-screening workforce, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) has spent two years wrestling internally and with
industry groups in an attempt to figure out exactly what to do about
non-scheduled aircraft operations. To date, there have been a number
of recommendations and guidelines, as well as formal endorsement of
AOPA's Airport Watch program. Additionally, the agency implemented a
series of rules targeting chartered aircraft operations involving
aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or more. But the elephant sitting in
the corner has always been what to do about security at non-commercial
airports serving general and business aviation -- airports ranging
from Teterboro to the grass strip outside of East Overshoe, Wyo., and
everything in between. Much of the TSA's problems in getting its arms
around general and business aviation security are internal -- it's
still a young agency and one still reacting to the media and public
emphasis on airline security. Now, however, it appears that may soon
change.

Floating around among Washington's alphabet soup organizations and
within the TSA and its parent, the Department of Homeland Security, is
a draft set of recommendations designed to formalize the ways in which
the federal government looks at general aviation airport security. The
document is being kept out of the public eye, but industry observers
tell AVweb that it builds on an industry-based effort conducted during
the latter half of 2003 through an Aviation Security Advisory
Committee (ASAC) working group. So far, say some who have reviewed the
draft, it's not so bad and basically tracks the ASAC working group's
recommendations in many areas. However, and in typical bureaucratic
thinking, the draft document includes a method of comparing various
physical characteristics of an airport -- its runway length, proximity
to a major metropolitan area, and the number of based aircraft, among
others -- to come up with a baseline set of security-related features
the facility should have. What's not clear -- and won't be until after
the document at least sees the light of day -- is what would happen at
an airport that does not have the features the TSA recommends.


....When Does "Recommended" Become "Required"?

The crux of the matter boils down to when, if ever, the TSA's
recommendations might become requirements. Although the TSA has long
maintained that it has no plans to require certain security-related
steps at GA airports, that agency really isn't the problem. Instead,
individual states -- sometimes frustrated by internal politics asking
that they "do something" about GA security -- are moving toward
creating their own programs, standards, requirements and protocols.
The resulting danger to general and business aviation is not that the
states would do something, but that they all would do something
different. Think about it: How many times have you run afoul of some
local procedure or operational requirement that wasn't widely
disseminated via normal aeronautical information channels?

One of the major, long-standing questions that still has no answer is,
"Who will pay for any 'recommended' improvements at your local
airport?" The quick answer is you will, either directly or indirectly.
Industry observers have long maintained that the central reason the
TSA wants to try to develop a set of recommendations based on the
various characteristics an airport may have is to devise a federal
grant system for funding security-related infrastructure where the
guidelines aren't met. But such a grant program is far down the road.
And none of the long-standing recommendations put forth by the TSA
envision airline-style pre-boarding screening, except in special
circumstances. In the meantime, look for a blizzard of new federally
approved recommendations, coming soon to a GA airport near you.

http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#186779