Department of Homeland Security: Should the Transportation Security Administration Be Included?

Publication Date: July 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Transportation

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Abstract:

President George W. Bush has unveiled a plan to create a new Department of Homeland Security (H.R. 5005, introduced by request). The new department would be formed by consolidating all or part of 22 of the more than 100 different government organizations that are currently involved in antiterrorist activities. As part of this proposal, the recently created Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would be removed from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and transferred to the new entity.

Supporters of the transfer argue that attacks on transportation make up too large a portion of terrorist attacks, world-wide, to leave the TSA out of the new department and that to do so would create problems of dual lines of authority for transportation security. They also assert that by year's end, TSA's size, importance, and lawenforcement role will make the TSA so significant to homeland security that a meaningful homeland security department cannot be created without it.

Opponents of shifting TSA out of DOT argue that, in passing the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) (P.L. 107-71), Congress, after much debate, placed the TSA in the DOT and that there is no reason to replay the debate so soon. They also argue that TSA is itself an agency under construction and that to move it to a new department would delay the implementation of ATSA and weaken important ties to the transportation expertise of DOT. This report summarizes these and other arguments on both sides of this issue. It does not reflect the views of CRS, which does not take positions on public policy issues. This report will be updated as warranted by events.