Airport Security Should Be Privatized In the United States
In the last couple of years, there have been a lot of
efforts towards the privatization of federal institutes in the American nation.
As the federal government grows day by day, so does the size of its budget; as
a matter of fact, the federal government in the US has been spending millions
of dollars annually on institutes or projects that do not bear the expected
fruits. According to Light (2005, paragraph 3) many American public ventures
have become complacent; this has caused a deficit in the government’s expenditure
which might lead to an economic crisis if nothing is urgently done to counter
the situation. Unless the government comes up with effective strategies to cut
down on its budget, the average American citizen may find themselves overtaxed
and headed towards financial doom. It is probably due to this that many public
enterprises in America have undergone privatization. The purpose of this essay
is to emphasize and elucidate with viable depictions the reason why airport
security in America should be privatized and the benefits that the process
would have for the nation and citizens of America.
The US General Accounting Office (1996, p. 2) define
privatization as the process in which the roles and duties of a government are
passed on, wholly or partially, to firms in the private arena. According to
Robert et al (2012, p.1) the issue of airport privatization is not a new one.
Many airports in the modern day are either fully or partially privatized, with
the local federal governments holding a greater number of shares. In the United
States of America, as stated by Robert et al (2012, p.4) the centralized
Airport Improvement Program has been responsible for a number of directives
that have occurred in US airports. The US General Accounting Office (1996, p.
2) further asserts that in order for any public airport among the approximately
565 American commercial airports to be privatized, there needs to be a
collaborative effort between the American federal, state as well as local
political administrations. According to Light (2005, paragraph 1) the Aviation
and Transport Security Administration was established for the purpose of
offering security to the national airports as well as all the other modes of
transportation in the United States of America. This entity was aimed at the
federalization of airport security.
Nevertheless, as purported by Robert et al (2012, p.11), if
any of the happenings that have been taking place in the US are anything to go
by, this body has not satisfactorily met its mandate of proving the US airports
with tight security. A most commonly cited example is the September 11th
in the year 2001. In addition to this insufficiency, the officers at TSA have
also failed to come up with effective technology to sense weapons such as
knives and guns as well as explosives (Light, 2005, paragraph 2). After the
George Bush government realized that the TSA administration was failing at its
duties despite huge chunks of the federal government resources being allocated
to it, the government appreciated the fact that it was time to allow private
investors to take over the management of the airport security in America.
According to The US General Accounting Office (1996, p. 44)
there are several factors that have a propensity to affect the benefits that a
privatization of the American airport security would have on the federal
government as well as the American citizens. One such factor is the manner in
which the privatization is conducted, the different sizes of the airports
affected and the features that are unique to each American airport as well the
amount of income generated by the relevant American airports. One of the major
advantages of the privatization of airport security in the United States of
America is the fact that in the event that private firms do not perform their
duties satisfactorily, their contracts can be cancelled and awarded to other
competent firms. In addition to this, the privatization of airline security
will be affected by whether or not the subsidies and grants that are currently
awarded to the public airport security administrations will be extended to the
private investors who take over the enterprises.
As a consequence of the failings of TSA, Robert et al
(2012, p.16) assert that there has been a lot of pressure being placed on the
US government to commercialize or privatize the security of American airports. This
has however not occurred. Nevertheless, in the year 2000 the American parliamentary
body passed that all the functions of the airport security related to the
Federal Aviation Association be combined and administered by the Air Traffic
Organization. On the other hand, Light (2005, paragraph 6) argues that the
incompetence that has been experienced by the administration of airport
security in the US cannot be wholly blamed on the airport officials. In the
year 2003, the House of republicans is alleged to have perpetrated a process
that resulted in the reduction of airport screeners to forty five thousand.
This process diverted the attention of the airport security administration from
pertinent issues like safeguarding the well being of Americans and their
nation; more over the decrease in funds meant that the airport security management
had to use resources meant for updating security technology and conducting
research on security issues at the airport in the hiring of causal security
officers.
The US General
Accounting Office (1996, p. 2) asserts that there are a variety of reasons why
the airport security in the United States should be shifted from federalization
to privatization. Firstly, despite the fact that most of the commercial
airports in America are owned by the government ant that the process of leasing
or sale of such airports has rarely happened, members from private firms are
very significant in the economic support and commercial activities that occur
in these airports. As a matter of fact, more than three quarters of the airline
sector human resource in America’s largest airports are from private firms. In
addition to this, The US General Accounting Office (1996, p. 2) states that the
privatization process, if conducted on American airport security, will be very
instrumental in providing the federal government with the much needed monetary
resources to be invested in national development of other sectors. In addition
to this, the US General Accounting Office (1996, p. 5) assert that the airport
security in the US should be privatized due to the fact that most American airports
depend on private firms for financial sustenance. More over many people in the
US are convinced that the private sector is better placed to manage the airport
security more effectively than the federal government has done over the years;
this will lead to greater profits and a general financial enhancement of the
American nation. The America citizens will also escape the possibility of being
overtaxed to cater for public demands (US General Accounting Office, 1996, p.
6).
In conclusion, despite all the benefits that would
accompany a process of privatization of American airport security, The US
General Accounting Office (1996, p. 3) asserts that there are several financial
and law related frontiers that hinder the occurrence of such a process. According
to Robert et al (2012, p.16), despite the fact that the Federal Aviation
Association has been supportive of the privatization of airports to some
extent, it has categorically been opposed to the chartering or trading of an
American public airport to private investors. The main reason for this, as The
US General Accounting Office (1996, p. 3) depicts clearly is that if private
investors take up the management and security of American public airlines, the
federal government will no longer be able to monitor how the revenue
accumulated from such airports is utilized. It is due to this frontier that in
1996 the 9th of October, the federal Aviation reauthorization Act
was endorsed by the American parliamentary body to allow the top official in
the Transportation ministry to set free at most five airports from the law
related frontiers that prevent their being leased or sold.
Work Cited
Paul Light: ‘Still Searching for Airport Security’ Washington
Post, April 24 (2005) p. B2
Robert W. Poole, Leonard Gilroy and Harris Kenny: ‘Annual
Privatization Report 2011: Air
Transportation’
Reason Foundation (2012) pages 1-16
The US General Accounting Office: ‘Airport Privatization:
Issues Related to the Sale or Lease of
US Commercial Airports’ (1996) Pages 2-44
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