In a letter to aviation industry groups, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole stated the agency does not plan to release its repair station security rule until fourth quarter 2012 at the earliest.
Pistole’s letter comes in response to a Nov. 22 coalition letter from 20 aviation associations and companies (including ARSA) to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expressing concern with the TSA’s nearly decade long delay in producing a rule.
The continued delay reinforces the necessity of ARSA’s “Lift the Ban” campaign to spur congressional action to eliminate the prohibition on FAA certification of new foreign repair stations. Congress imposed the ban to punish the agency for not meeting its 2003 obligation to produce a rule, but rather than encourage the agency to act, the ban has only punished the aviation maintenance industry and undermined its growth.
Furthermore, the TSA’s inaction shows that the agency does not consider repair stations to be a realistic security threat, but is rather choosing to focus its resources on areas it considers a greater danger.
While ARSA agrees that repair stations pose a miniscule security risk, the fact remains that without the rule, or an act of Congress to lift the ban, repair stations will continue to suffer.
House Committee Seeking Stories Highlighting Impact of Foreign Repair Station Ban
The House Homeland Security Committee is requesting letters from U.S. companies detrimentally impacted by the ban on FAA certification of new foreign repairs stations.
As part of its “Lift the Ban” campaign, ARSA’s legislative team continues to meet with congressional leaders regarding TSA’s failure to finalize repair station security rules and the subsequent FAA foreign repair station certification moratorium. The “Lift the Ban” survey results were useful in providing a snapshot of the ban’s effect on the aviation maintenance industry; however, the committee is looking for more specifics including job loss numbers, lost revenues, and other information detailing the economic impact the ban is having on U.S. companies.
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~~~ posted 12/22/11 ~~~
