Nomination for a second term to lead the Transportation Security Administration. I want to welcome you back, administrator, typically. Senator cantwell has a lot going on. I was a little late because i had an obligation that i agreed to help out with chairing the hearing could. Tsa employees like those of minneapolisst. Paul international airport, travelers on time and the airport running day in and day out, it is critical that we rise to meet increased demand for air travel and properly balance the need for safety with quality experience for travelers. Congress created tsa november 19, 2001, in the wake of the attacks of september 11th to strengthen the security of our nations Transportation System and to prevent future terrorist attacks. Over the past two decades, tsa has evolved to deploy advanced technologies like touchless screening capabilities and to address new National Security risks like cybersecurity. Something on your minds. Tsa must adapt to meet new threats including those posed by unique circumstances such as Public Health crises like the pandemic. At the same time Additional Resources such as k9 explosive detection continues to play an Important Role in keeping us safe. We know that in airports across the country tsa screens 2 million passengers, 1. 4 million checked bags for explosives and other dangerous items, this helps ensure the security of 24,000 domestic flights, 3300 Outbound International flights per day. As there are at every place of employment practically around the country. I know im sure we want to talk about that sum. The members will, but when you look at the numbers, fourth of july, long weekend from thursday through monday psa screening to more than 11. 3 million travelers. That is is that more than 93f prepandemic levels, and friday, july 1 was the busiest air travel days since the onset of the pandemic with nearly 2. 5 million individuals passing through tsa checkpoints. Tsa needs to keep up with the rising demand and address any staffing shortfalls, and i look forward to talking with you about that. Tsa is also charged to protect critical surface Transportation Systems that connect cities, manufacturers and retailers, and power in economy through more than 4,000,000 miles of roadways, nearly 140,000 miles of thousand miles of railroad track, more than 470 titles and over 2. 8 million miles of pipeline. Last years Ransomware Attack on the Colonial Pipeline threatened nearly 50 of the east coast youll supply, and again another example we need to harden our energy infrastructure. We are very pleased that we have you, your experience, an addition to your years of experience at tsa. Of course you provided counterterrorism security and Intelligence Support Services to Government Agencies during your years in the private sector. You have distinguished career in the u. S. Coast guard serving as the coast guards 26 vice commandant, the second in command, while also serving as its chief operating officer and component acquisition executive. You hold a master of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of technology, also known as m. I. T. A master of Public Administration from Columbia University and a bachelor of science from the u. S. Coast guard academy. You are more than ready and experience to have this job as your smiling employees behind you are indicating, or whoever they are. They seem to be in your camp, i will say that much, dont you think, senator wicker . With that i will turn it over to good actors, no doubt. [laughing] thank you so much, senator klobuchar and we want to join you in welcoming admiral pekoske back to this committee. We appreciate his continued willingness to serve. The 9 11 attacks led to the creation of Transportation Security Administration, and its placement within the department of homeland security. I was a member of the house of representatives 20 and one half years ago when we did this. Tsa is charged with protecting the nations Transportation Systems while also ensuring the Free Movement of people and commerce. Tsas nearly 60,000 employees play a Critical Role in securing our nations transportation modes, including commercial aviation, general aviation, mass transit systems, freight rail, passenger rail, highways, pipelines and ports. The 43,000 plus transportation Security Officers who screen air travelers every day are among the most visible part of tsa through the public but there are many others in the tsa workforce including transportation security inspectors, federal air marshals, visible intermodal prevention and response teams. So this committee greatly appreciate the dedication shown by you, admiral pekoske, and the vast majority of tsas frontline of employees who continue to work threat the covid19 pending. Each day tsa screens more than 2 million passengers, and 1. 4 million checked items for explosives and other dangerous items. Growth in air travel is expected to continue and will either approach or exceed prepandemic volumes in the coming months. Tsa also works closely with owners and operators to protect the variety of surface Transportation Systems that connect our cities, manufacturers and retailers. These include more than 4 million miles of roadway, nearly 140,000 miles of railroad track, over 470 titles, and more than 2. 8 million miles of pipeline, all of which are critical to our economy. Tsa conducts roughly 8000 surface inspections annually as part of a riskbased approach we are securing large and complex Transportation Systems in our nations critical infrastructure. However, since its inception tsa has been subject to significant criticism from the Government Accountability office. The dhs office of inspector general, and the regulated communities. To meet these challenges, last fall at the 20th anniversary of this agency, i introduced the Transportation Security Administration 20th anniversary review act. This act would require an individual review to evaluate the tsa successes and failures. Something that is never been done since the agencies creation. And i hope admiral pekoske will agree that this is necessary. I also the administrator will work with me on yet another bill, my tsa Security Threat assessment Application Modernization act which would streamline the enrollment process for key security credentials used in application. I appreciate your willingness to continue to keep serving the american people, and i appreciate his team that senator klobuchar mentioned. I look forward to working with the administrator to ensure that tsa implements best possible security for our Transportation Systems without unduly interfering with travel, commerce, and civil liberties. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you very much. Please, admiral. Love to hear from you. Demaree, senator klobuchar, Ranking Member wicker and establishment of the committee. Ive had the honor of serving as leader of the transportation to get administration for nearly five years and it is my great privilege to be before you today to be considered for a second fiveyear term as administrator. I would like to think President Biden formally nominate me to this important National Security position and also think secretary mayorkas and the entire d justine for the support during this process. I would also like to recognize and thank my family for the unending supporting this position and throughout my career. Laser focus on protecting our nation and our Transportation System. They are a dedicated committee workforce. Of note though i want to talk about transportation Security Officers. Tsos interact with millions every day and perform a critical tsos interact with millions every day and perform a critical National Security function for our nation. Their watch never stops. They come to work without pay. They came to work without pay during the 35 day partial Government Shutdown in 2019. They staffed the checkpoints when much of the rest of the country remained home amid the onset of the covid19 pandemic, and transportation Security Officers have been an important part of the recovery of our travel from the pandemic. The nation during shutdowns, and in exhibit a high level incidents. They do so with a level of professionalism and integrity that serves as a model for the entire tsa family. Our workforce is an inspiration to me and totally deserving of our full support. That starts with funding the president s fiscal year 2023 budget request which provides pay equity for tsa employees. And finally put them on equal footing with the rest of their counterparts in the federal government. It confirmed i will continue to do all i can to advocate for and hopefully implement pay equity. I will continue to work hard to ensure that tsa workforce is well prepared to meet the challenges of the next five years and beyond. Tsa does not do its job alone. Our Mission Success is directly dependent on the cooperation between the agency and its myriad of partners. In aviation we continue our strong partnerships with our critical stakeholders, the airlines, airports, state and local governments and other federal agencies, foreign governments and, of course, pilots and flight attendants. Equally important are the growing partnerships we have with us or precipitation sector were tsa works closely with oil and natural gas pipeline, passenger transit rail, freigt rail, truck and bus industries. Finally amid the challenges of growing Cyber Threats tsa relies heavily on forging productive partnerships with owners and operators of our critical transportation infrastructure for which tsa serves as the security regulated. I value our partnership with organized labor, employee Resource Groups and advisory panels to provide advocacy for our workforce. They help us remain strong by promoting healthy and Thriving Work environment for our tsa family. I want to take a second and recognize these partnerships and thank all those entities for their contributions toward securing our nations Transportation Systems. If confirmed i will do everything i can to make your tsa maintains and strengthens these important partnerships to ensure our pursuit of the highest level of transportation security works in tandem with the facilitation of trade and commerce in the Transportation System. After 20 years tsa has grown considerably and weve learned a great deal about how best to protect our nations Transportation System. We still have much more work to do but i remain committed to tsas future. I look for to the opportunity to lead the people tsa for another five years, if confirmed. In closing i thank President Biden secretary mayorkas for the supported me and the entire tsa team. I think this committee for the great working relationship we have had over past five years which if we confirmed i hope to continue. Senator klobuchar Ranking Member wicker and distinguished members of the committee i look forward to your comments and questions. Thank you. Thank you very much, administrator. We have a number of senators here first of all to make sure you promise me you will tell our crew that theyre doing a great job. Absolutely promise. Thank you. Secondly, you talked about and it said the agency expects this summer to be very, very busy. You mention the numbers we are racing that. Talk about some of your biggest workforce issues, how do you think we could resolve them . Its been a busy summer, pretty much every day since memorial day has been a 2,000,000 travel day. You mention the busiest day was the friday before the fourth of july weekend, all the records, you know, before the pandemic. Its been very, very busy. Our workforce has performed incredibly during spring break and certainly as we are about in the midpoint in the summer. One of the biggest things for us i mentioned in my Opening Statement is to ensure we do achieve pay equity. When you look at all those many women that are on the front lines of tsa, they are generally making up 30 less than their federal counterparts and other agencies. If we classify their positions using Standard Guidelines their pay would increase by 30 . 30 . Thats significant and that something that is critical for tsa in the future and i would appreciate your support at ot pay equity initiative. The other thing that is very important to keep in mind is that everyone in the country pretty much has had a difficult time hiring entrylevel people. Its not easy. Its much harder than its ever been since ive been the administrator. We are about 10 below where we would like to be with our screening workforce but weve been able to maintain our wait time standards because of the incredible work of that workforce and said some mat flexibilities that we have. We asked for volunteers amongst all the transportation Security Officers and said hey, if you would like to volunteer, if youre in an airport that might be overstaffed we would like to maybe two another airport that would be understaffed. We had 1000 people raise her hand to do that. Thats why weve been able to maintain our standards to the busy summer today. I appreciated your willingness to move things. Ill never forget of years back when with huge delays because of some construction at our airport and you guys moved some dog crews from maui. You would appreciate, senator wicker, that these dogs had been in hawaii and they were moved to minnesota in february. That is what happened to them. But in any case i last two questions kind of on the same subject so i will ask them together. It is about this idea of international travel. Senator wicker actually, the bill that senator wicker led the travel and tourism omnibus act overall bill includes a bill that by senator wicker that authorizes the tsa to allow passengers arriving from foreign airports to transfer to connect flights at u. S. Airports without having to go through customs again. Theyve gone through it once, and senator blunt and i lead brand usa, done a lot of work in this area, cochair of the International Tourism caucus. Senator rosen issue a great leadership on this committee on this. How would the onestop security Pilot Program help improve and streamline the Passenger Experience . Onestop security is a terrific initiative and i really urge the passage of that initiative. It would give us the opportunity prototype onestop and several airports, internationally, and give us an amount of time to very carefully evaluate its effectiveness. First and foremost onestop security improves security. What it means is that flights that the park last when departure airports internationally bound for the u. S. Will be more secure with onestop than they are without onestop. So thats a very, very important point to make. The other is it provides a great deal of efficiency in our system. Rather than rescreen passengers, when were satisfied the security outcomes are commensurate with u. S. Outcomes, theres really no reason to rescreen passengers once they arrived in the United States. I think this will make a big difference for all travelers, in particular for business travelers who on tight schedules and wanting to move through the system quickly. Very good. And just come when you had to go on because ive gone done my time, we now in msp they can use passage from other countries can now choose to go through Border Control using facial recognition scanners. I assume there are some other updates we can do. We know these international travelers, courts what to make sure they do it is a and you yoe in charge of doing that but they spent an average of 5000 in a country every time they come and, of course, we saw that this is from the pandemic the less years, we want to it again. Just use of technology there. Yesman and were working very hard to provide Biometric Technology in our screening checkpoints around the country and was also done some prototyping with customs and Border Protection so we can biometric exit travelers on the United States just get tsa without having to go through customs. So thats a significant facilitation as a. Very good. Turn it over to senator wicker and then i would go to senator tester will be taken over for me at some point here, so thank you. When are we going to see that biometric exit . We prototyped it most recently at a lan airport. Its worked very well and partner in close with customs to put together an delimitation timeline for when speedy so just tell us how that works. What it does is when a passenger comes into the United States internationally, their image is taken at cussed when the growth of the port of entry at the airport. What customs is is a match that up with her passport photo to make sure they are the same person and, of course, we do on the background checks and things like that to admit in this country. When the exit the country theres a requirement not yet fully implemented to buy metrically exit. So you buy metrically enter an d then you will be buy metrically exited. When they land at dulles and leave an atlanta still works . Still works for is at the same thing in minnesota happening on september . In minnesota that is mostly for domestic travel. We are putting biometrics in extensively facial recognition i should mention speeders i think you should wait a long time for minnesota. [laughing] but weve been working really, really close with customs so we are not duplicated effort, using same technology and support work very well. Madam chair, start my clock now. Let me ask you this. Mr. Administrator, 20 years ago congress chose not to place an agency under title five. We now have proposal, fy 2021 proposal that would essentially do that. An additional 129 is requested to establish Labor Relations support capability to mention expanded labor benefits for tsa officers. A panel that you appointed, blue ribbon panel, composer republicans and democrats in 2019 recommended against that, including the chief Human Capital officer for dhs under president obama strongly recommended against moving tsa personnel under title five. One recommendation the panel heard repeatedly from employees was moving tsa into the general schedule. That panel does not agree. The general schedule is a 70yearold classification and compensation system for the last century, and is the subject of countless studies and recommendations from Good Government organizations who consistently find that it is too inflexible to meet the needs of 21st century workforce. A better course of action is to use existing a tsa flexibility to improve tsa pay systems so it operates at a level superior to the gs system. So where are we on that . And has there been, have you had a change of heart . And is are some middle ground where we can pay these people what to do without moving to the gs . Thank you, sir. The president s budget request seeks the funding to support pay that is equitable, that is equivalent to what someone would be paid under the general schedule. It also has a separate budget line item to support full collective bargaining because we implement full we do limited collectivebargaining for our tsos. We are funded that. We are not funded for full collectivebargaining. So theres two separate line items, one for pacom 14 collectivebargaining. The pay item does not require a transfer to title five. It doesnt say which doesnt operate under. It just says we need the pay. From my perspective, five years and tsa talking to thousands of officers, the number one concern they have is their pay. When youre working in an airport and they see the customs and Border Protection counterparts who were on the general schedule making a lot more money than they do, doing somewhat similar but different jobs but they would classify out very similar to each other, thats a significant problem. We have high levels of attrition at tsa. 20 of her workforce turns over every year and its very, very hard to recruit people because theyre looking at the pay system. Even if we can recruit the mill decide to come to tsa sometimes in the transition to another agency there is more of it moving to another agency or moving to the private sector . It is both. Some folks are coming to want to work in the federal government, do want to serve the country, do want the benefits of the federal government provides better looking of course for the get the best compensation. What is the entrylevel . Roughly gs five level. So when you think about it, the tsos you see in checkpoints, their average pay is rep 40,000 a year. Thats a very low level of pay for the responsibility we place on their shoulders and what we ask of them day in and day out. So for me the number one thing for me as the administrator, and if confirmed into the next five years 16 this pay issue because its critical for us. You both mention staffing at the airports. We wont be able to staff if we dont get a adjusted. Thank you sir. Yield back. Very good. Thank you. Senator tester. Thank you, madam chair. Thanks for having the string. Administrator pekoske, thank you for being you. Thanks for the job you done the last five years. The fact that when i came in this room and it looked, i said thats administrator pekoske. Thats a good site which means i havent had to have you infodemic talking about screw ups. [laughing] we appreciate that very, very much. And we appreciate the professionalism of the people who work with you. Ive got a couple questions. Were going to get to the airplane part of things i want to start with pipelines. Theres a 2000 aching report after the found that there is only six people were done pipeline security and 2018. Can you give us an update when we are at today and if the staffing is adequate . Weve seen pipeline mischiefs. The staff is adequate to make sure this country is well protected because pipelines are medically important. Thank you for the question, and high points of his giddy resilience is a top priority of hours. And our staff is significantly larger than what it was last time we talked but it is still at the levels where it needs to be. One of the things weve been successful at and this is for the great credit of the department and the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, is with partner very close, close with them once cyber skin issues and overall critical and for such protection issues. Additionally we work very closely with the pipe when it has just materials Safety Agency and the department of transportation who also has cyber expertise. So our work to date has been pooling those cyber resources together, but we do need to have additional cyber resources and you will be seen that in future budget request unsure. Can you tell me how many people working Pipeline Safety today . For cyber, i limited to cyber, we about 20 plus additional people. We have more in the pipeline to come on board, and then as we expand our Cyber Resilience efforts across the surface transportation sector beyond pipelines, it would require even more resources to do that. And so you get 20 in cyber. What is the other airy and Pipeline Safety that you work on . I would be just policy development and inspection. Okay. How many people do you have in that there arena . In the inspection process we have hundreds but those inspectors are dual hatted as Aviation Security inspectors and pipeline security inspectors. We are about to ship a number of them over into pipelines as a dedicated resource. So the pool of inspectors is we do need to build their expertise. For the adequacy right now you would say you need to bump up the cyber into things . What about the inspection . Inspections as well. Do you have topline number you want to try to achieve and the next we are still developing that topline number because we are looking at the extent of our cybersecurity regulatory efforts over the next year plus. And it will expand beyond what it currently is. Okay. You have previously testified in the house, i believe you support writing into law full collectivebargaining rights and pay equity for transportation to get officers at tsa which is been addressed already. This committee has legislation before it. That we do exactly that. Tell you why your supportive of these provisions and why you think it will make a difference in recruitment. The pay equity is critically important as i said before just make sure we can hire, retain and be fair. I mean, we fairly compensate our employees have critical nationals cuticles. With full collectivebargaining, i support full collectivebargaining. Tsa has had limited collectivebargaining since its inception 20 years ago. I look at the federal employee results were to come out. I look at them to see what are the workplace is satisfied for frontline screening workforce. As i look at this we have been 20 years doing limited collectivebargaining. It hasnt got missed we need to be and so i think we should try. But i need the resources. So when it comes to the airplane staffing, airport staffing you were about 8 down. How have you dealt with i mean, youre getting an influx, 2 million a day. How are you dealing with the line issue with your staff being 8 down . Yes, sir. We have dealt with it successfully through a lot of hard work at the local level. We have really, really good relationships between our airport leadership and the owners and operators of the airport and the carriers. We all Work Together to try to make sure a passenger gets on board the plane and can depart as quickly and safely and securely as possible. The other thing we have employed a great deal are recruiting bonuses. We have a series of incentives. Weve increased with cost of living is very high proportional to the rest of the country, we provided additional retention incentives to compensate for high cost of living areas. We also this summer have summer incentive if so we provide more money in addition to overtime for those who are working overtime hours. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Senator fischer. Thank you, madam chair. Welcome, administrator. Nice to see you again. I appreciated that we had the opportunity to meet and discuss some a priority i have. I wanted to followup under discussion that we had regarding the staffing at an airfield in omaha any potential new requirement that airport staff exit lanes will be, a responsibility of an airport instead of a tsa responsibility. Can you briefly give us an idea, some further details of what those changes might be an how tsa, i i guess is going to bee to offer any assistance for those additional cost airports . Thank you, senator and appreciate the conversation we had very much as well. Roughly a quarter of our airports have staff exit lanes. As a look at the expertise we build into a transportation Security Officers do, all the screening work we do in her screening checkpoints, our view is thats not the best application of the skills we provide to that workforce. That if the technology is not in place to prevent people from going into an exit lane in getting into a sterile of an airport with that screen, then does need to be staff. The question is by whom. The Budget Proposal for about 94 94 million, if i recall correctly, would require airports to assume that responsibility. As a look at this and i see and exit lanes in all those airports when a visit and also see other airports did a Good Technology solutions to this, in my opinion a Technology Solution is the best way to get at this. I recognize there is a funding requirement for that. Do you have any ideas on how these airports are going to meet that requirement, where theyre going to get the revenue from . Senator, if the budget is passed as submitted, then as soon as the fy 22 budget is enacted, they would assume responsibility for exit lane staffing. So they would have to generate staff because you wont have a Technology Solution in place quite that quickly. But then i would expect we would work very closely to try to develop some of this Technology Solutions. But the funding for that as proposed in the budget would come from the airports, not from the federal government at this point. Senator tester asked you about the pipeline security, cybersecurity on pipelines, based on the directives that were put forward earlier, do you know, are you planning as a tca to look at any future security directives with regards to freight or passenger rail, to look at mass transit, look at a time . And if so, youre nodding yes, so if so, what is a timeline on that . We are already working with the rail sector on cyber skin requirements beyond what they already have. So that you only need to rt incidents when he ducked when a contact into full liberty assessment and have a contingency plan. We anticipate placing additional requirements of the change and were also making this change on a pipeline sector, is to go to a performancebased regulation rather than a specific activitybased regulation. We feel that provides the owners and operators of these systems a great deal more flexibility to achieve the secured outcomes of you want to turn them. And do you have any specific timeline and mine on that tell how long it would be . Are timeline for rail will be over the next month or so. And then well also look at the Aviation System both airports and airlines. Okay. Anything in maritime . Maritime will be a closeddoor responsibility. We work closely with the coast guard. Thank you. During the nomination hearing in 2017 i asked you have tsa can be more proactive in addressing surface transportation security, and usually tsa historically has spent just two to 3 of its budget on those surface transportation programs. What have you done since youve been in this role for five years, what steps have you taken to be able to bolster that surface transportation security . Thanks, senator. First, we reorganized and we now have an assistant administrator for surface transportation security operators and that puts him on par with the domestic Aviation Security operations. We provided Additional Resources and we also allocated some of the aviation inspectors surface transportation compliance work. So theres a significant increase in overall headcount in surface. We have place a lot of emphasis on building relationships with the owners and operators of service systems. As you know just in a pipeline sector there are 3000 3000s in the country. We are doing our very best to work with the associations and then work with the most critical of those owners and operators in the country. Thank you very much. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman will work. We will have next senator from massachusetts, senator markey. I thank you, and my grandfather axa got off the boat from ireland, and he went to montana to build the railroad, and he built it for about six months and then he just decided it was just too cold in montana. Believe it or not came back to boston. Otherwise, i wouldve had a funny accent, okay, but i dont, okay . [laughing] my grandfather did return to boston so i this accident which, which i dont understand what everyone else sounds so funny, and we dont. So i thank you, administrator pekoske, and a white return to issue that you and i have spoken about previously, the diversion. The diversion of the september 11 security fee to deficit reduction has had a significant consequence for our Aviation System. This misguided policy siphons and 1. 5 billion from tsas budget every single year, depriving tsa, depriving you of the Critical Resources you need in order to provide security for our nation. Thats why i introduced the faster act which would in this he diversion and issue the tsa and its workforce have the tools they need. Administrator pekoske, you agree that ending the diversion is critical to improving the security of our Transportation System . I couldnt agree with that statement more. This has been going on since 2013 balancedbudget agreement it goes on for several more years by extension of that agreement. 1. 52 billion in fy 23 the provide additional top line for tsa. And its actually critical, we had to fight very hard after 9 11 to finally put in place the security provisions, which we have. But again, of vision, security without funding is a hallucination. Youve got to the finding of her to make sure that it works. You should be able to use these resources to give transportation Security Officers and air marshals a welldeserved and overdue raise, better pay and benefits would also allow the agency to recruit and maintain a talented, experienced workforce. Do you agree that improving that pay and benefits of the tsa workers will in this way improve Airport Security . Yes, sir, without question and its critical that we improve pay. Its fundamentally unfair what were doing to them. We invest in workers economic security, we invest in her own security as well. I agree with you 100 , 1. 5 billion every single dollars every single year taken out of your budget while people wonder why we secure, is the morale of our workers high enough in order to protect everyone who is going to airports in our country . Obviously we know what the answer is. We have to show that we respect them. We have to show that with the resources that continually upgrade the resources. So i saw that at Logan Airport with Mohammed Atta and the other nine. They were scoping out Logan Airport for months, just sitting there. I was informed by now those workers in terms of all the provisions i was able to build into the legislation in 2007. That mandate those protections. But you also they need, you need to fund it. Because they are cost of testing. Testing. Mohammed atta had a phd. These are smart people. They are trying to figure out how to penetrate the system, and if youre not continually investing, they will find the aperture. They will find a way through and then well have another catastrophe. So this funding is absolutely essential. And i want to turn to a related issue, wages and benefits for Airport Service workers. These individuals are the Unsung Heroes of our Aviation System but they are often overworked and underpaid and thats why i introduced with senator blumenthal the good jobs for good airport act which would help ensure that Airport Service workers are paid a living wage and benefits like improving the pay of tsa officers, improving the labor stands for Airport Service workers makes our airports safer by lowering turnover and ensuring that airports have an experienced workforce. Administrator pekoske, did you support increasing pay and benefits of Airport Service workers, and d agree improving these labor standards will improve Airport Security . Yes, sir. I think increasing pay walls go allow will allow airports and airlines more selective as to who they hire and it will also appropriate compensate those workers for the truth of what they do, and they are the Unsung Heroes of the system. And i want to thank you because i appreciate your team working with my team to address my concerns related to privacy because surveillance and security are not the same thing. Travelers should not be faced a false choice between privacy and protection. Look forward to working with you on that as well. Thank you, sir. Thank you, senator. Senator thune. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Administrator pekoske, thank you for being here today and for your willingness to serve in this Important Role once again. And last year, thanks to the hard work of this committee, Congress Passed the faa reauthorization act of 2018 which included my bill, the tsa modernization act reauthorizing the agency for the First Time Since 2001. Passage of the bill enacted several provisions aimed at minimizing security line wait times, deploy more advanced screening technologies increasing protections for unsecured portions of the airport, all to benefit the experience of the traveling public while keeping our airports and skies safe from harm. Building on improvements made by the faa extension safety and security act of 2016, the bill required tsa to increase accessibility of the Precheck Program including a Provision Requiring the agency to enter into an agreement with private sector entities to expand precheck enrollment option such as the start to finish secure online or mobile enrollment capabilities. Increasing enrollment options is important. Really like south dakota were enrollment is currently limited to physical locations. The distinctive . Let me thank you for the modernization act. It significantly improved tsa and it has significantly improved the Passenger Experience. To your question precheck out precheck is check is a vital program. Precheck with global entry allows us to have trusted traveler population that will allow us to focus our limited Security Resources where they are needed the most. We agree we need to improve the enrollment availability across the country. We have signed agreements with Additional Companies to expand Enrollment Services in the United States. I expect their authority to operate, in other words, our review other cybersecurity within the systems and the processes will be done this calendar year. You should see those new enrollment vendors rolling out sometime in calendar year 2022. Thank you. Just as a follow up on that ive continued to work with senator blackburn on legislation requiring tsa to develop a secure online precheck enrollment process allowing americans in rural areas to enroll in the program without traveling to physical enrollment center. Could you discuss tsas enteral efforts to increase the accessibility of precheck enrollment . We want to make precheck available to as many people as to qualify for it as we possibly can. We just recently reduced that he for renewal of precheck from 85 70 and i can be done dollars and that can be done completely online. We are working closer with the fbi to eventually get to the point where we can do more mobile enrollment in the tsa precheck. And if confirmed ison youll continue to work with us on that . Yes. You mention tsas work with operators of critical transportation infrastructure to combat both physical security and Cyber Threats. And october last you i joined a letter with Ranking Member wicker and several of my Commerce Committee colleagues expressing concern with recent security directives issued by agency particularly the lack of engagement with effective stakeholders and i appreciated your january response to this letter which outline the agencies work with stakeholders to develop cybersecurity framework. Could you provide an update on tsas work with effective stakeholders in implementing the requirements of the security directive . Yes, sir and i appreciated your letter expressing your concerns and we have worked closely with the oil and natural gas in particular sector. I think to great effect. Weve had a series of very robust engagements both with the associations, with individual owners and operators to the point where we are about to reissue our security directive but that the specific measures and yet to give this owners and operators a great deal more flexibility as to how they achieve the secured outcomes that we deem need to be achieved. The other thing that was significant this time around was we made sure that the ceo of those companies, there ceos and chief Security Officers had access to very highlevel intelligence that demonstrated the urgency within which we need to move in this regard. I would like to reflect back on the last year and observe that the oil and natural gas sector in particular, thanks to the work of those owners and operators and her teens and their investment, is significantly more resilient than it was a year ago. And i think youll continue to grow in resiliency over the course of the next several years. We will go into a full notice and comment rulemaking process beginning this year as well. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. I have another question i will perhaps submit for the record. Thank you. Senator rosen, remotely. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Appreciate it. Im so happy we are having the string because as chairwoman of the subcommittee for tourism trade and export promotion, travel experience matters. Tsa is a huge part of the travel experience, and i wanted to speak for a moment about 90 million expected international visitors, according to the recently released plan for our National Tourism strategy. And so the 90 million visitors that are expected to come are estimated to spend about 279 billion annually right here in the United States. I have bill with Ranking Member wicker, the omnibus of travel tourism act. We affectionately call it the tour bus, the talks about the onestop security Pilot Program. We know senator klobuchar mentioned it earlier but it does include a provision that would provide passengers and baggage arriving from certain foreign airports, one that we certify, to bypass the second renda screening at the point of last departure airport has screening like a said commensurate with that in the u. S. We hope to see this bill passed soon for obvious reasons, nearly 300 billion annually is annually is quite a boost to our economy. So mr. Administrator, could you expand a a little bit about hw the establishment of the onestop security Pilot Program really cannot support your tsa mission, can help improve the travel experience, and just expedite everything, make our airports more efficient while maintaining safety and security . Thank you, senator rosen, and we strongly support onestop security. I think its a terrific idea because it improves the overall level of Security Effectiveness from passengers departing from the last point of departure airport where have an agreement. This is what similar technologies, Similar Software offering those technologies and similar ways to ensure the security levels are commensurate. To your point and provides significant efficiency benefit in the system were passengers dont need to get rescreened here in the United States. One of the things of you look at airports around this country and if we assume, i think its a valid assumption that wasnt fully recover from the pandemic, we will see 4. 5 or so year over year growth in passenger volume. Thats basically the same rate we saw before the pandemic. We cant continue to increase our staff at that level because we have limitations in physical infrastructure. This is a way for us to better manage the increasing growth which is a good thing. Seeing the Aviation Industry continues go and more travel and tourism in this country is certainly a positive impact on our economy as you mention. Wonderful. That leads me right into building what senator wicker was speaking about, airport workforce shortage. Tsa recently named the Las Vegas HarryReid International airport as its airport of the year for large airports. Im really proud of this designation and the wonderful work that tsa and las are doing for relaunching innovation checkpoint making las vegas he only checkpoint in the country featuring the latest upgrades youve been speaking about an Aviation Security, technology. We will improve security, passenger screening, carrying out trials and integrated uvc light sanitation system. But we thrive at harry reid airport because of our workers and its so essential workforce have the resources they need to develop these technologies to keep americans safe. Its why im a cosponsor for the rights for tsa workforce act. This would grant tsa workers the same rights and protections that are granted to most federal employees. So again, mr. Administrator, could you talk about what resources the tsa workforce may need from congress to be sure they are safe and protected as well . Thanks, senator. Resources we would need, one is put into two categories. One is to achieve equity. That resourcing is in the order of 872 million in fiscal 23 and an annualized in fiscal 24 come to about 1. 52 billion which is very close a number senator markey raised with respect to the Aviation Security passenger fee diversion to deficit reduction. So thats the most significant issue for us in our budget, bar none, is to make sure we get pay equity for workforce. The second is to allow us to do a full collective bargaining which i strongly support but we are not resourced to do that. Thats in the order about 120 million. I think that will improve overall Workplace Environment within tsa. I think will improve retention and would really strong ask the congress to support that additional funding for full collectivebargaining for tsa. With respect to other aviation workers, i would highlight as well in addition to some of the workers that have been mentioned are the gate agents that done a tremendous job job in this pandemic recovery, and the flight attendants who have dealt with a lot of unruly passenger behavior over the last year. Id swore to make sure that a mention of their efforts as well. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Senator blackburn. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you so much for being with us today and i think you and your team for the work you did on getting tsa back to the jackson, tennessee, airport. As you know that was important for the region. It is important for the Economic Growth that is taking there an expansion of the mega site for, kellogg, toyota all that is seen tremendous growth there. So we thank you for that. I and senator thune mentioned the mobile enrollment for tsa act and the importance of that. I do think for Rural Communities this is going to be vital to continue with it. I do want to ask you, the tsa modernization act, and id like for you to speak for just a minute why you all chose to disregard that law and in her into agreement with vendors that did not include secure mobile and to end enrollment. Senator, out get back to you for the record if i could answer that question because i want to make sure that i give you the most accurate information. But i do appreciate very much your advocacy for small airports now recovering. We will always move very quickly to about that recovery to occur, thank you. Okay, thank you. You mentioned biometrics earlier. So what is the timeline . What you did not do is give us a timeline for when you see full implementation taking place. And also i would like to know what are the privacy and safety arrangements around that data . Because this will be capture and hold on that data. Yes, maam. With respect to biometrics at the checkpoint we do capture the data but we do not hold it. So soon as of the the identity session Identity Verification did we erase that data and thats in a privacy impact statement. Ill start with privacy because that needs to be at the forefront of all biometric discussions. We want to make sure we are open and transparent and very respectful of privacy rights of travelers. With respect alone is a going to take him unfortunately longer than i would like a dictate because our Capital Investment level in the fiscal 23 budget, for example, for example, is about 100 million. Thats going to push out our ct acquisition to about 2036 or extra acquisition to 236 and dinner credentialed technology which of the biometrics embedded will be about ten years after that. So its a longer timeline. We are ready to go, costly testing, consular improving. It just requires additional funding at our a top line if constrained to be able to do that. Well, that is helpful to hear. I was disappointed to hear you say that you supported collectivebargaining. I know that senator wicker brought up the title five issue earlier, and it is of concern for me. So it appears that tsa has kind of change their opinion and their view on the issue. Am i correct on the . Yes, maam. I fed experience now five years and his position and that report was done earlier in my tenure. I have, like i said, paid very, very close attention to our federal Employee Viewpoint survey results. That needle hasnt moved where it needs to move to. And i think we do try a different approach to this budget is expensive and thats the reason for the budget request of 120 billion to execute. Current law calls for employees that allow guns, knives, explosives through a checkpoint to be immediately terminated. So changing status and moving them under title v, could those employees remain on the tsa payroll . We would have to, you know, we had to look at the specific legislation that would be at play. We provided technical drafting assistance to h. R. 903 witches the current legislation that has passed the house. Well, safety of the flying public is an imperative, and it appears that title v may restrict your flexibility in dealing with employees, is that correct . What we would want to do as the bill goes through the process is to look at areas where it might have an impact that we would want to have you consider additional adjustments on that. We would have to look at the legislation to see were some of the specific impacts would be, but clearly from my position i am all about improving security and not at all about decreasing security in any way, shape, or form. How much training does a tsa agent go through before they begin to screen people on their own . What is the hours required . I know at one point it was as few as 24 hours and then it moved to 40 hours. So where are we now with training . It varies by station because there are different stations within the screening operations. So for the xray system, for example, thats in excess of 90 hours to become certified in that. Additionally we put all of our new officers in the tsa academy which is two weeks long and about to go to three weeks. So they have the onthejob training and then had the academy training. So thats officers and not for agents . Same thing. Our transportation security, we call them tsos, transportation Security Officers, those are the agents to see if the checkpoint. But youre still not law enforcement, correct . Thats correct. All right thank you. Senator blumenthal. Thank you so much, mr. Chairman, and thank you, administrator, for being with us today. I apologize im not there with you in person, but i but e inperson meeting the other day, and as i expressed to you then and want to reiterate now, first of all, we are very proud of the work that you been doing as a former resident of maryland and a native of connecticut, but also much more importantly i want to thank all of the workforce, the tsa employees who come to work every day under enormous pressure and make sacrifices that we often dont appreciate or understand. And i try to thank the tsa workers as i go through the checkpoints whenever i do at Bradley Airport or at reagan or anywhere else that i go most recently at jfk going abroad. But they are true heroes and want to reiterate the point that is been made before about pay equity. It is so important that they receive the same Compensation Benefits and treatment as other federal employees. Because certainly they serve with the same kind of dedication and sacrifice as others do. And i wonder if you could just describe for us a little bit what the impacts are of the lack of adequate pay as you talk to tsa workers and why its so important for us to keep faith with them . Thank you, senator, thank you for the opportunity to meet with you in office. I too enjoy the conversation very much and am a proud former resident of the state of connecticut, my state of birth, so i appreciate you mentioning that come in for your leadership as a member of the senate and prior as the attorney general for the state when i last live there. With respect to adequate pay, its absolutely critical for us to adequately pay our workforce. I can imagine any of us knew that somebody doing the very same job that we were doing working for the very same employer, the federal government, we learn that we are making 30 less for doing a similar classified position. I mean, it is fundamentally unfair, its not right. We should stand for and specific impacts on workforce. You are working very hard. Our transportation Security Officer on their feet for their entire ship. Many of them show up for work at 330 aim to make sure the checkpoint opened time for the first passengers that arrive. They have a job that a significant responsibility attached to it. They cannot make a mistake in the work they do because if they do then some passenger or some passengers belongings might get into sterile area of an airport that shouldnt be there or on board an aircraft. I have enormous respect for the work that a transportation to get officers do everyday and also the leadership at airports that supports them. Thank you for mentioning Bradley International airport. This job is very hard particularly now when you think of the rapid resurgence, thankfully, of growth in the Aviation Industry. When passengers get frustrated, and i understand why you do, that people that this yet the airport are going to be the transportation Security Officers or the gate agents owing n board the aircraft, the flight attendants. None of those employees no matter whether they work for an airport, airliner tsa, have anything to do with why that mightve taken longer to get what he wanted to. So i appreciate the work force and their professionalism in resenting tsa, in prison the United States government to passengers to our system. So i would really genuinely appreciate your and the entire Committee Support for pay equity support, thank you. Well, i intend to continue to support 1856 which senator schatz has led, which is the rights for the tsa workforce active 2021, and also am supporting a bill that store market and i have introduced that would in effect return the security fees paid by consumers to the tsa. Right now they are diverted to other parts of our budget. Do you believe that the monies that are collected through the security fees ought to go to tsa to improve its operation. Was yes, sir. I believe that very deeply. Passengers pay 5. 60 5. 6f the journey when they buy a ticket. That money is called the Aviation Security passenger fee. It should be applied to support Aviation Security. In addition to providing additional fines to achieve equity within tsa, those funds will allow us to invest in the tools that want to provide our officers so that the very best technology to do the jobs that we asked him to do. With that, thank you a tonight on q a journalist elliot marrs shares his book strength in numbers examining the history of Public Opinion polling going back to the 19th century and the accuracy of opinion polls today. Lets predicting that donald trump has a 30 chance of victory in the election, not because National Polls will be wrong, but because the race is close in two states. I do wonder that if every person in the media had understood that 30 of 30 meaning that if you have three elections, they will be wrong one time. If your sample size is 18 elections, you have a pretty good chance that the polls will miss enough that the losing president ial candidates could end up winning. I wonder how the tone of the campaign would have been different and what the people would have felt. Elliott morris with his book strength in numbers tonight on cspan q a. This into q a on and all of our podcasts on our free cspan now app. Cspans washington journal. Every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss policy issues that impact you. Monday morning, we discussed the week ahead in congress and the white house with jim stewart from the u. S. Oil and Gas Association to talk about Oil Production in the u. S. And the Biden Administration criticism of the industry. And Washington Post opinion on campaign 2022. Watch washington journal live at seven eastern sunday morning on cspan or cspan now our free mobile app. Join the discussion with phone calls him a facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. A hearing now on the growing threat that Unmanned Aircraft drones post to the country. Witnesses include the secretarygeneral for the National Security division. In 2018 Congress Passed legislation giving federal officials the authority to manage drone usage. That oversight is set to expire in october 2022. This is just under two hours