Homeland Security Act of 20027

Congress passed the Homeland Security Act in November 2002, creating a new department in the executive branch at the cabinet level known as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The primary missions of the Department are preventing terrorist attacks in the United States, reducing the country’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimiz­ing damage in the event such attacks occur. Specif­ically, the scope of DHS activities includes border security, intelligence collection and analysis, emer­gency preparedness and response, and detection of chemical, biological, and radiological threats.

This statute combined over 22 existing fed­eral agencies previously scattered throughout the government into one cohesive organization. DHS includes not only the TSA, but also U. S. Cus­toms and Border Protection (CBT), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, the U. S. National Guard, and the U. S. Coast Guard. Some agencies and depart­ments involved in national security that are not in DHS include the FBI, the CIA, and the Depart­ment of Defense.

The Act provides for the training of air car­rier pilots in the use of firearms to be carried in the cockpit. In April 2003, the first 44 airline pilots certified as Federal Flight Deck Officers were graduated from the Federal Law Enforce­ment Center in Glynco, Georgia.

Third-party liability insurance (insurance to cover airlines for losses of those airlines to third parties, such as passengers, persons on the ground, and others) ordinarily does not cover risks of damage caused by war, sabotage, civil unrest, or terrorism. After 9/11, this specific kind of war risk insurance became prohibitively expensive for airlines to obtain, causing the issu­ance of Presidential Determination No. 01-29 on September 23, 2001. This Determination, which authorizes the issuance of war risk coverage to U. S. flag air carriers for such loss or damage, and/ or the reimbursement of insurance cost increases to such carriers, was carried over into and as one of the provisions of the Homeland Security Act.

Aftermath

Still, the nation’s airlines faced many challenges after September 11. The extraordinary provi­sions of the supportive legislation passed by Congress in 2001 and 2002 certainly went far in preventing the collapse of segments of the air carrier industry, but much damage had been done. Projections made at the beginning of 2001

forecast a $3 billion loss for the airline industry for the year. As a result of 9/11, that loss quickly became more than twice that figure, $7.7 billion.

Added to this were the U. S. invasion of Afghanistan in October of 2001, the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2002, and the SARS epidemic (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in early 2003.8

The air transport industry was in for a very hard time during this turbulent period.