Transportation Security Administration
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | November 19, 2001 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Transportation systems inside, and connecting to the United States of America |
| Headquarters | Pentagon City, Arlington County, Virginia |
| Employees | 55,600+ (2014) |
| Annual budget | $7.55 billion (2015) |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Department of Homeland Security |
| Website | www.tsa.gov |
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that has authority over the security of the traveling public in the United States. It was created as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Chiefly concerned with air travel, the TSA employs screening officers in airports, armed Federal Air Marshals on planes, and mobile teams of dog handlers. The use of enhanced screening procedures has caused controversy.
The TSA was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, sponsored by Don Young in the United States House of Representatives and Ernest Hollings in the Senate, passed by the 107th U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001. Originally part of the United States Department of Transportation, the TSA was moved to the Department of Homeland Security on March 9, 2003.
The TSA was created as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Its first administrator, John Magaw, was nominated by President Bush on December 10, 2001, and confirmed by the Senate the following January. The agency's proponents, including Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, argued that only a single federal agency would better protect air travel than the private companies who operated under contract to single airlines or groups of airlines that used a given terminal facility.
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