After September 11, 2001, the guarantee of aviation security became one of the priorities for the U.S. government. Much attention was paid to the development of effective national and international cooperation with a focus on inter-and intra-agency cooperation. The key events on this path were the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration on the national arena in 2001-2002, as well as signing the aviation safety agreement between the United States and the European Union on the international arena in 2011 (Jennison, 2012, p. 3; Kettl, 2013; Pawlak, 2009). However, the main focus should be on the national inter-and intra-agency cooperation that contributed to improving aviation security with references to the identification management, information sharing, and consolidation of activities, but these aspects are still challenged by the lack of unified requirements and communication channels.
The first step to increasing aviation security was the creation of a set of requirements for threat identification at the intra-agency level that improved the overall cooperation of the personnel. The identification management based on standards and requirements set by the Transportation Security Administration allowed improving the procedure of monitoring passengers (Fischer, Halibozek, & Walters, 2012). At the level of inter-agency cooperation, much attention was paid to effective data sharing among departments. It was important to exchange the information between the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration; the Department of Transportation and the Transportation Security Administration; the Department of Defense and the Transportation Security Administration (May, Jochim, & Sapotichne, 2011, p. 286). However, in addition to the required data sharing, the other important approach to increase aviation security was the consolidation of activities based on the distribution of responsibilities among agencies. A range of standards was formulated to regulate the cooperation between agencies with references to the effective sharing of data. This principle also works in the international cooperation between the United States and the European Union, when the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration audit the activities of each other.
Nevertheless, it is possible to identify two barriers to effective cooperation at these levels that have not been addressed yet, but there are strategies to mitigate them. These barriers are the lack of unified requirements and standards adopted in different agencies and the lack of communication channels. Despite the active cooperation, the U.S. agencies work according to different standards that are based on the laws, but they have specific features. While following regulations and focusing on the same goal, agencies fail to adapt to the standards that often prevent them from effective cooperation (May et al., 2011). The way to address this problem in light of the appropriate reorganization of agencies is the reformulation of standards to ease inter-agency communication and activities. The second barrier is the weaknesses in guaranteeing effective communication between agencies as data are often transmitted with problems (Cox, Prager, & Rose, 2011, p. 308). The used communication channels and technologies cannot address all the situations in which the effective exchange of data is necessary. The way to resolve this problem is the improvement of the used technologies with the focus on enhancing the inter-agency teams’ work.
It is important to note that although the inter-and intra-agency cooperation contributed to increasing the aviation security level, there are still barriers to the effective consolidation of activities. From this point, certain actions should be taken to address these issues. As a result, it is possible to expect the further development of the cooperation.
References
Cox, A., Prager, F., & Rose, A. (2011). Transportation security and the role of resilience: A foundation for operational metrics. Transport Policy, 18(2), 307-317.
Fischer, R. J., Halibozek, E. P., & Walters, D. (2012). Introduction to security. New York, NY: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Jennison, M. (2012). The US-Europe Aviation Safety Agreement: A big step forward for safety and efficiency. The Air and Space Lawyer, 25(3), 1-22.
Kettl, D. F. (2013). System under stress: Homeland security and American politics. New York, NY: Sage.
May, P. J., Jochim, A. E., & Sapotichne, J. (2011). Constructing homeland security: An anemic policy regime. Policy Studies Journal, 39(2), 285-307.
Pawlak, P. (2009). Network politics in transatlantic homeland security cooperation. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 10(4), 560-581.