the committee on homeland security and maritime security will come to order without objection the chair may declare them at recess at any point. the purposend of the hearing iso examine the authorities of the budget request for 2025 and i would like to thank the witness

for joining us today and without objection the gentleman i also want to welcome a new member of the subcommittee the gentleman from new york. thank you for joining us. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. on behalf of the members of the subcommittee i'm pleased to welcome him to discuss it's been over two decades since the establishment of through the attacks in 2001. while tsa has grown and was an agency. as a safeguard of the truckingand pipelines it leads n facilitating the open movement of people and goods throughout the united states and the

transportation system. throughout the last year the subcommittee has conducteded hearings on issues from ths say, the role ofs technology in aviation security to the identity management work. this gives a better understanding of where they stand today. but the kind of lighthearted missiona' they need technology d man of power to keep the commerce flowing. we recognize that continues to be an issue and the subcommittee is committed to ensuring the front-line workers receive an equitable competitive wage while much more work needs to be done toto ensure the ability and then playing are an encouraging sign. i'm confident the leadership will continue to be an engaged and effective.

however in the development of the deployment of new technology last year i raised concern for the rollout of the new topographya system at the checkpoints across the country these are estimated to be completed in 2024 and 2049 respectively that is simply unacceptable when examining the budget request it appears the technology has taken a backseat and i'm concerned they haven't requested enough technology. the procurement budget requires for 2025 is over $40 million less than congress enacted in 2023 and the research and development request for this fiscal year was half the size of

the r&d budget. i understand the request to end of the day version of the passenger security fee which would help the agency account for some of these changes. i recognize the need for congress to engage this issue thoughtfully and then to the bait and switch happening. simply put the american people pay $5.60 per flight per security. i'm pleased they are making tremendous progress. throughto partnerships with stae and local leaders to make sure there's a security screening process to work on identity management is making the process

safer and less intrusive than individualen passengers. the federal government in this space. the role of technology is even more important to ensure checkpoints are operating in closing they need an engaged effective tsa to ensure the goods, people and services acrossss the world administrator my colleagues and i stand ready to work with you and appreciate you being here today and look forward to your testimony. >> good afternoon and thank you for calling today's hearing. i want to welcome congressman

kennedy. i look forward to working with you and i also want to thank the administrator. last year tsa faced a major funding shortfall as the agency sought more than $1 billion increase to pay for salary and expanded collective bargaining rights. i was glad we were able to fulfill the request and fund critical improvements for the workforce. for fiscal 2025 you continue the initiatives and it's requested a

377 million-dollar increase for career ladder promotions that will keep employees in line with other federal workers. it's important they continue their support for the new system that is having a significant positive impact. an enormous different in the lives of transportation security officers, federal air marshals and other employees across the country. they are also helping tsa address high rates that have plagued the agency for years and have fallen.

tomorrow the union representing the workforce, the federation of government employees will formalize a new collective bargaining agreement that would provide additional benefits for the agency and its workforce. i look forward to hearing more about the administrator on the ability to carry out its security mission. i also hope to hear more about the difficult choices made. theto budgets take risks does nt include funding for the visible intermodal prevention.

also does not include funding for law enforcement officers and canine reimbursement programs which rely on. representing an increase from fiscal year 2024, funding but still not enough to allow the program to deploy machines to all screening checkpoints. i hope congress will be able to restore and increase funding for these programs. doing so will require creative solutions and the budget requests assume.

in 2024 congress returned 800 million in fees and required the mandatory spending programs in 2022. to go beyond the budget request congress should consider a modest increase to passenger security these. the act would aim the file the

resources it desperately needs. i encourage my colleagues to give serious consideration to the funding challenges. i look forward to today's discussion and i yield back. others are reminded opening statements may be submitted for the record. i'm pleased to have a thedistinguished witness on this critical topic. do you solemnly swear it will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. thank you, please be seated. let the record reflect the answers answered in the affirmative. david is currently serving his second term as the seventh

administratore for the security administration. responsible for the security operations of 444 airports throughout the united states. under his leadership they've improved transportation security through the partnerships and alliances cultural innovation and a the development of the workforce by the joyous ten year we served as the 26 vice commandant culminating the command experience. i think the administrator. >> members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this afternoon. before i begin i would like to offer my condolences they offer

condolences and heg will be missed. the turning to the budget i puappreciate your support of the appropriation which provides funding to pay the employees at the same pay rate as the rest of the federal government. we have many more candidates pursuing opportunities and morale has remarkably improved aswe pay special recognition to

law enforcement officers whose lost their lives in the line of duty. i'm grateful to those of tsa, fans and criminal investigators and how law enforcement partners across america. in the midst of a remarkable recovery and sub. there's been 9% growth at miami international.

11% had lafayette regional, 6%s of jfk lax and the increase in volumes respectively. a seven of the ten busiest days ever in u.s. airports. tomorrow we will hold a press event. included in the 2025 request they both improve security effectiveness, efficiency and the customer experience.

the capital investment plan shows this project will be completed in 2042, 18 years from now. similarly the upgrade of the checkpoint verification$9 technology to include facial recognition increases performance in this element of checkpoint screening. at this rate the request which is $9 million in capital investment plan shows the project will be complete in 2049, 25 years from now. we had the opportunity with additional investments as tsa has the vendors and processes in place. a legislative proposal that would end the day version through the deficit reduction. it would instead restore all 9/11 revenue to aviation

security as originally intended. it's due to expire at the end of fiscal year 27. the diversion paid early would allow flexibility for more funding in the security capital fund and i look forward to working with you to enact the proposal and the diversion completely and direct all revenue to its intended purpose of aviation security. i look forward to your questions and all of you to ensure tsa has the resources and authorities to meet.. >> members will will recognize by order of seniority. i recognize myself for five minutes of questioning.

you said that the authorization to divert when you make your estimates of 2022 and 2049 is that assuming that diversion will continue. at the diversion will continue as planned and that's why it sounds so far. they would be completed much quieter. how can you implement the new technologies? >> this ends in 25 rather than 27. assume that it ends at 27 how much quicker can you get it

done. >> leading countries around the world have you already going to follow behind those countries and the ability to match. >> i think the biggest difference is. from my perspective it's important that this compared to the identification problem and the green technology.

there are many others that are not, but we have been hard to bring back the baseline. what is the timetable for implementing the new technologies? >> for some it is much faster because the airports rather than the federal or central government. we are all looking at the same technology and recognize the computer. the challenge in front of us is to outline the standards of technology performance and we have made a lot of good progress on that particularly the civil

aviationat congress. >> so those are airports airportauthorities et cetera tad with acquiring the technology that it's not the tsa itself. there's the standards of technology performance and then works. you can permit larger volumes that can be on sap in place. the other thing weso are working on a cybersecurity prototype. part of the requirements of its by a directional so we have this technology performing at the same level in terms of the

software packages. a to tell them hey, you have to have this by this day and then they willrk have it. the way we are doing it centrally we can set up the system. it wouldn't be on the federal government to fund each.

within two years i don't know. maybe we can talk about that a little bit more. my name is up and i now recognize the ranking member. and thank you, administrator for your testimony and partnership for tsa employees. i get the chance to meet with the hard-working men and women of tsa. there is more stable footing to mature as an agency.

the rates have dropped nearly in half. what impact. the rates have dropped by 50% and we had in the last month what was the rate ever for the overall. do you see people applying for those jobs then it occurred in the last five years so lower attrition, more applicants.

at the highest test scores ever in our history. >> how will we continue in the years to come. >> it's critically important for the development and critical for to increase the average level of experience at the checkpoint operations so if somebody starts, the pay letter provides automatic for the higher dance so provides a very significant incentive for people to progress forward and stay with the

agency. if we have an employee that stays longer than a year they are likely to stayit for five. ours was after the customs and border protection. >> formalizing but i have work to do here in dc and i congratulate you for that success. changing the subject here since the attack on the colonial pipeline in may of 21 tsa has assured the requirements for transportation system owners and operators across the modes of transportation from pipelines to

masssy transit as industry partners work to implement these requirements and to develop they must have the resources to understand the industry operations engaged with stakeholders and informed policies. what a cybersecurity investment does tsa require for funding and personnel and what has tsa done to assess the resource and personal needs? >> we've done an awful lot for cybersecurity resources and we have 200 people now in the agencies so if you think of where we were in 2021 when it just occurred we've made significant progress and found we don't have a shortage of candidates wanting to work in

the federal government for however long. we have in the request that was funded. the increases are constrained by the top line capability. we like to have more because we have a significant responsibility to work with our agency partners and have the pipeline systems, airlines and airports . the gentleman yields back and i recognize the gentleman from new >> it's a pleasure to meet you. thank you for your service and for the kind words. happy to be akn part of this

wonderful committee and was reminded earlier in the homeland security committee meeting as a whole that the committee began out of new york and the terror attacks of 9/11 and to secure the country and airports and bridges and the railways, so thank you, number one, for your service and i also want to thank the workforce, tsa officers and we are grateful to the workers that keep our travelers moving and economy moving at the same time. i'm excited about the fact

you'll be at laguardia tomorrow and it's well-deserved for those workers. to see the officers laboring to move people through security, depending what time of day and what airport you're at it could be extraordinarily long into the workforce could beth extraordinarily overtaxed and overburdened depending how many people are working the travelers come in waves. it's a regular occurrence depending on any particular time what sort of guardrails do you

have in place as an organization to keep the flow moving and the ratio of officers in a good place so the traveling public is moved through in a decisive manner and entering those that are traveling are screened effectively. >> thank you for the comments and they work to make sure all of us can travel safe and secure. in terms of things we are doing, pay was the number one issue in the budget and we appreciate the subcommittee and congress supporting us inar that regard d we already see us the benefits of does not just in the statistics but when you visit

the checkpoints and engage with officers they feel more valued and they should always feel valued.e a securityts is our primary foc. as you mentioned our job but importantly, and we talked about this in our opening statements it's important to give the tools they need to doem this job. if you're looking at hundreds of x-ray images to be able to find some very small items that might representing hazard. we have a keen focus on making sure we put the technology tools

in place but i also think what's very important and i know the officers behind me would agree is we work hard to make sure we have a workplace culture focused on the development of helping each individual officer so they can realize their own expectations of service and be able to provide that to the passengers we see. i can't name another agency that has direct contact on a daily basis 2.5, 2.6. i'm proud of the work they do and my policy is people first. we don't run if we don't place people first and i think that our folks are doing an incredible job so i appreciate

them. of the time is up and i recognize the gentleman from louisiana, mr. carter. >> thank you for allowing me to be here. >> without objection. >> i want to thank you for the opportunity to be here. about the elimination of funding the local law enforcement detectivert k-9 teams program ad how it negatively impacts across the country. thank you for joining us today. i appreciate moving through the subcommittee today and i want to take the program that provides

training to local agencies and for many years tsa also provided agencies participating in the program with reimbursement for the cost of housing unfortunately in the budget request for fiscal year 24 and 25 proposed eliminating funding for k-9 reimbursements. congress followed through and eliminated the reimbursement funding. this is critical to supporting the local law enforcement agencies, operation that they played to a wide range of environments and providing detection capabilities. local agencies may be forced to reduce or eliminate trying to

balance competingr priorities when given the needs for employees which i strongly support. however i'm worried that the reimbursements would degrade the ability of law enforcement. what impact are you seeing so far from the defunding of the program and have you heard from many local law enforcement agencies and what they do in light of this reduction. i would echo your sentiment that the national program is the

biggest about 1100 canines total. the reason for the reduction is simply we don't have enough money to fund everything we need to make some very hard choices and one was what we did not eliminate is the support we provide. we train the handlers and in different techniques we update the explosive. mymy conversations with. it's not it's something that the budget limitation requires us to do. we hope you engage over the course of a year and renewed the

agreements with us which most. >> as you might imagine local governments like this we are constantly facedt with scenaris they have the ability to save thousands of lives by identifying the would be threats given the circumstances as you develop these agreements will you work with local law e enforcement agencies to understand the need and impact

and will you consider thelo agreement in question rather than a blanket agreement one size does not fit all. jeff is particularly stronger than any other and i am often lost to get their fire. this would not only impact the great need at the airports but also the stations and throughout. i would urge. to figure out a way to restore the funding and obviously having your support in a measure is critically important. you can count on our support from the committee and homeland

security more broadly but also members of congressrt who recognize we've seen what happened with 9/11. this is one of those cases where penny wiseev and perhaps mr. chairman i yield back. >> that time is expired and i recognize the gentleman from new york. $11.20 at a time and for my constituents, americans watching at home inth the aviation secury and 9/11 the airport security you get charged five dollars every one day trip you take it for every airplane ticket and despite the name.

they collected them to the guide of more security and are diverted to the treasury for expenditures having zero to do with passenger security and keeping the skies safe. as it is perpetrated by the federal government and hard-working unknowing americans of the victims to use september 11 as a. one third will go back to the department of homeland security. it's a start and it's a step in the right direction but not enough.

it'sse hard to do that and what you see our technology investments we need to make.th we need better x-ray technology across every checkpoint and every airport had the country. we want. that's 2049, so this is a long way off. you heard mr. carter talk about the k-9 reimbursement program.ss we can't fund that because it's not there. we had to pull back law enforcement officer reimbursement programs because of topline constraints. i agree the $1.6 billion was intended for aviation.

americans have in their airports to be more efficient. it would take less time to get through. >> it would because we could hire more people and put better technology and please. >> thank you for that. as part of the 24 appropriations the funding for the security checkpoint technology was also more than half. for approximately, approximately 80 million to 5 million and last year they told of the committee that based on the past.im they will meet the full operational capability for the credentialed authentication technology machines and 18 years from now,in in 2042, we will met the standard for checkpoint property systems and putting tomography. and that was with more than double the funding that was appropriated in the fy 24 bill.

what does that projection look like now in your view? >> the programs will probably stay within those time frames but when you're looking at a 20 plus years that's a long way to wait and i would highlight the ct investment is designed to help us detect. the only thing i would offer quickly is that the organic the budget was also hacked so if the development isn't at the pace it needs to be so in contemplation of the security being inverted

what would you say about this timelines only shifting but about how far they shift to the left? >> you go from the late 20s to 2020. but there's other thingss we jut can't even contemplate doing right now. >> i have just a few seconds left. thank you for being here and informing us on these. there seems to be bipartisan interest. we certainly identified the issue and how it's and ensuring that we accountnt for not only passenger safety but efficiency to go to the airport and i want to say thank you. >> what they do in europe some members wered. not here it's not

the central government that provides the technology at the airports it's the airports themselves. let me go back to the passenger security when it was originally established. what else did they go for? >> it goes to pay and a lot of ofthe developments working with industry partners to make sure but it is not accomplished by tsa.a. >> i'm not goingts to take much longer on this but i would like to see you and talk about the possibility of changing the model. they provide the technology they

say we need but somehow this passenger fee we have also that diversion or a portion of it goes back to the airports to provide what they need. they can probably get their stuff faster than we can. when they are mandated by a certain time they will do it. all the fees generated at the airport. smaller airports don't haveth te volume. we need to accelerate.

if we are saying we are needing to charge -- to balance the budget of the government some o it is being used for security, but the majority of it is not. and that's not right. it is supposed to end unless it is reauthorized and i will tell you this. i'm not reauthorizingmb it. i don't think any member will authorize it either. so, by 2027 at least you get it back but i'm not so sure that we are the best vehicle for implementing all of these security measures. i think these airports need to start. with that i will yield my time

back and. for the appeal rights by applying the cord. previous versions past the house and the 116th and 17th congress. this year we introduced a bill an equal number of republican and democratic responders happen to be one of the cosponsors so this is the sensible thing to do

for tsa. do you agree we should end backtrack we have the should ensure. we should never backtrack. the bill as written would codify the things we are doing which provides that guaranteed. for me when i look at the conversationde plan we just putn place, we need to make sure it stays linked to so we don't find ourselves in a position to get back to that after a couple of years of decline so we strongly support that. >> the ranking member thompson

also would address many of the challenges. it would raise the passenger security feedback and index these two inflation going forward additional machines and critical airport law enforcement it is critical that we write besides the budget and make sure you have the resources you need to carry out your mission. you said before you believe that tsa act will be helpful to your

agency. the did you have any conversation about the possibility of including an increasing as part of the budget request.t. >> if you straight up lion it wouldn't be 750 so roughly the two dollars that was mentioned so i agree that we baselining it where it needs to be that generates 1.5 million in additional revenue. >> i think that is evident in the budget things we want to invest in that we have to

reduce. >> thankne you and i yield back. >> administrator, i want to go back to where we left off. at the security in the airports into the passenger experience because theyba go hand in hand t just the traveling public but the workforce. there are times that it's overburdened. what may we be able to do whether it is a guidance requirement within tsa and how the departments are managed on the front lines or to get more

staff and recruitment et cetera so we can attend to these. you're going to have a different experience. >> take your pick as you know. what is that we may be able to do to address those issues and make the experience more efficient and effective. >> thanks for the question, sir. it's a good example of that and

what increase 4.5% so that burden falls and it does all the behind the scenes of vetting of passengers we don't need to be the same because the efficiencies allow us to be less than last but not behalf. the other thing i would be happy to have a discussion with you in more depth about this as we ought to call. co-pay. i'm sure that the officers --

that is the whole premise behind the pre- check program, we have a certain set of passengers we trust and we can give them a lighter level of screening. they were resolved faster and less. then increase things we look at with respect to the customer experience. we arere doing a lot of work rit noww on that very topic and ther goal, they've set up.

each agency has metrics to achieve in that regard. for us one of the metrics is can we be more consistent in our way at the time experience for passengers. wed do have we design standards but we want to make sure. we have a program for airports if they want to purchase the technologyth themselves. they can purchase off of our recall the capability acceptance list and many. denver has done it and this allows them to kind of get ahead of the curve when they open a new checkpoint a lot of investment. they don't want to open a new checkpoint. i wouldn't either and put old

technology in they wanted with the latest technology in place and this gives them the avenue to do it. >> thank you to the gentleman from new york and i think the witness for his valuable testimony and the members for their questions. there may be some additional questions for the witnesses and wear would ask the witness to respond to these in writing pursuant to the committee rule, the hearing record will be open for ten days. without objection, the committee stands adjourned[inaudible

conversations] [inaudible conversations]

which required a two thirds majority of her passage through this follows last week's passage in the senate also wita bipartisan vote of 88-4. current funding had been extended until this friday but the bill and now heads to president biden who heads to sign it by the deadline.

hearing.