TSA will be the first to admit....

that they have been reactionary instead of proactive. It is extremely difficult to anticipate the "next" threat before it becomes the next threat. The new TSA administrator, Mr. John Pistole, has brought a new culture and a new sense of urgency. DHS, the 800 pound gorilla in all of this, is the one really behind all these reactionary responses. The new TSA administrator will need time to implement new procedures and policies. He is the right man for the job!

One of his best and biggest suggestions to improve security is to increase the security level for 10,000 of the TSA workforce. This step alone can help bridge the gap between what the "upper" levels of TSA knows versus what the front-line workforce knows. More information means a more knowledgeable and professional workforce.

Let's give him all of the time and all the support he needs to get things done.

Howard

Upcoming Shift Bid

Some of the news that we're hearing is positive, some of it not so. Being the general skeptics that we are, we'll believe the positive when we see it. Knowing how Covenant Aviation Security has been with schedules over the last eight years, only rarely do they ever seem to get it right.

It does seem that DFL (Dual Function Leads), particularly those of you that prefer to work at night, are going to get screwed. Since Dual Functions are no longer the favored children, it seems you guys overall will be getting the same "royal treatment" that our CTX brethren have received for the last three years.

We don't know how much faith you guys will have considering that Covenant Aviation Security is using Ascent to generate the schedules again. For Dual Functions, they are hand selecting schedules for you guys from the CTX generated schedules.

And for more of "the more things change, the more they stay the same" department, they are bringing back the MRT. Oh wait, not the MRT but the MRU. Mobile Rotating Unit, with emphasis on the singular form of "unit". Note that if you happen to bid for this schedule you are volunteering ahead of time to be moved around even more. And you will not stay together with the other people that happen to bid for the MRU. The situation could be that one of you stays at a location and the other one goes to another location. Be aware of that ahead of time. They're also creating separate bid lines for ADASP. For those of you that like ADASP, this is now your opportunity to get away even more, perhaps.

The union is supposedly working with Terence Cunningham to hammer out these schedules. Let's see if they can accomplish any good.