Transportation Security Administration's Office of Intelligence: Responses to Posthearing Questions Regarding Secure Flight

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Transportation Security Administration's Office of Intelligence:

Responses to Posthearing Questions Regarding Secure Flight

GAO-06-1051R: Published: Aug 4, 2006. Publicly Released: Aug 4, 2006.

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Cathleen A. Berrick
(202) 512-3000
contact@gao.gov

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

This letter responds to Congress's request for additional information related to Congress's June 14, 2006, hearing on the progress and challenges of the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Office of Intelligence. As discussed in the statement at the hearing, for over 3 years, TSA has faced numerous challenges in developing a federal passenger prescreening program, known currently as Secure Flight, because TSA did not follow a disciplined life cycle development approach.

TSA has faced numerous challenges in developing a federal passenger presreeening program, known currently as Secure Flight, because TSA did not follow a disciplined life cycle development approach. Although TSA made some progress, it suspended the program's development earlier this year to reassess program direction, and it anticipates completing the reassessment by the end of September 2006. Whatever direction Secure Flight takes, TSA needs to follow a disciplined system development approach that fully defines system requirements, schedule, and costs; coordinate with critical stakeholders; ensure system effectiveness through assessing name-matching technologies and policies to match passenger and terrorist watch list data; conduct stress and end-to-end testing that verifies that the entire system functions as intended; and establish privacy protocols and access to a redress process.