Sep. 3-COLONIE, N.Y. - Officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) commemorated the 20th anniversary of the federalization of Albany International Airport (ALB) airport recently.
The Albany International Airport launched under TSA security oversight 20 years ago this weekend, on Sept. 4, 2002, when the security checkpoint was first staffed by federal TSA officers one year after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) became law in November 2001, formally establishing the TSA. That fall, TSA consisted of about 100 people working at folding tables in the basement of Department of Transportation national office. Twenty years later, there are 430 federalized airports and a workforce of about 60,000 employees nationwide. TSA has a staff of well over one hundred employees who are assigned to work at Albany. Twenty members of the TSA workforce have been working at ALB since the airport was federalized and they are being recognized.
"The Transportation Security Administration was created 20 years ago approximately one year after the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001," said Bart R. Johnson, TSA's Federal Security Director for Albany International Airport and 12 other airports situated across the state. "The mission of the TSA is to protect our nation's transportation system by outmatching a threat that has evolved since September 11."
From the initial federalization as a TSA airport 20 years ago until the present day, the "TSA team here at Albany has focused on this mission each and every day and is executing it using state-of-the-art equipment by a professional and well-trained workforce to prevent another terrorist attack from occurring," Johnson said.
"I consider myself to be very fortunate to work with such a dedicated group of TSA employees. We are also fortunate to have forged such strong partnerships with the Albany County Airport Authority, the airlines and the Albany County Sheriff's Office, which has further strengthened and improved our security posture," Johnson said.
"The Transportation Security Administration continues to provide a high level of security procedures that are critical to the safety of our travelers, our airlines, employees and the safe operation of the Albany International Airport," said Philip Calderone, CEO of the Albany County Airport Authority.
In the intervening years since launching, TSA has developed and implemented strong security procedures, built a well-trained and highly skilled professional workforce, and introduced a wide array of state-of-the-art technologies to screen passengers, baggage and cargo.
Guided by an intelligence-based approach, today TSA is at the forefront of security technology and innovation. Technologies such as computed tomography, credential authentication technology and advanced imaging technology have greatly improved TSA's detection and identity verification capabilities in ways the initial group of TSA employees could have only imagined 20 years ago.
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