DATE: December 31, 2019
TO: All personnel at LGA, HPN, ISP, SWF
FROM: Federal Security Director Robert Duffy, LGA, HPN, ISP, SWF
SUBJECT: Weekly Update Memo
As I write this week’s memo, 2020 arrives in less than 10 hours. As we conclude 2019 and look ahead to 2020, it is a natural opportunity to give you a recap of the year ending and a preview of what is coming in the new year.
Clearly the biggest event in 2019 was the way we started the year, with the government shutdown. While everyone in the TSA worked for 35 days without pay, you still came to work with a strong dedication and devotion to duty and the sense of commitment to the oath we all took at the start of our TSA careers. Thank you again for your professionalism and commitment to a cause bigger and greater than any one of us individually. Your efforts throughout that difficult and challenging time are still appreciated by the airport leadership and airlines at all four of our airports, and the TSA greatly impressed both the Congress and the President. Well done to all.
Another major challenge we dealt with this year was the construction at LGA and the impact over the year and especially in the summer. The construction impacted all four of our airports as LGA received direct help from ISP and HPN, while SWF backfilled HPN. That was a true team effort over the entire summer peak travel period. We received plenty of thanks from the airlines and from the PANYNJ leadership at LGA and their HQ at the World Trade Center for your outstanding effort. Thank you for your exceptional teamwork.
This year SWF saw Norwegian Airlines depart for the last time on September 15. The cause was due to the FAA grounding of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft in the Spring. While Norwegian made an effort to continue service from SWF for several months through the use of a single Boeing 777 and then an Air Bus Industries A380, the business model wasn’t holding up and they had to cut their losses. While the impact to SWF has been significant with an approximately 60% passenger reduction, we expect SWF to rebound in the coming years as the airport expands its capacity. The new Federal Inspection Station (FIS) under construction, is scheduled to open on time in June, 2020. An expected follow-on expansion of the passenger terminal will increase capacity which in turn will attract airlines, especially foreign carriers.
In September, we had a successful United Nations General Assembly 74 thanks to the teamwork of Screening and our Regulatory Inspectors. Again, we saw direct and indirect assistance from ISP, HPN and SWF to make the UNGA 74 successful. Thank you to all involved.
This year we also conducted an assessment of our managers and initiated a training program to provide our Managers with additional tools to become better leaders.
We completed all of our training requirements on time, especially the Mission Essentials training and then the Behavior Detection training. The excellent work carried out by our entire Training Department won them recognition earlier this month at the annual awards for the best team in 2019. Well done to the entire cadre of instructors.
We also saw national recognition for LGA in November. Administrator Pekoske recognized the LGA K-9 team as the number one K-9 team in the TSA at the Fall FSD/FAM-SAC conference in Washington. We also recognized the K-9 team locally at our December awards ceremony.
Our Regulatory Inspectors did their usual outstanding jobs and completed their annual work plan on time. They continued to effectively apply the Outcome Focused Compliance (OFC) program to their work throughout the year. They conducted some exceptional investigations this year and are a credit to keeping our four airports and outbound flights safe in a little known or appreciated way, but still vitally important to our overall success. The unit integrity in Regulatory is exceptional.
Our team in Mission Support worked to successfully transition the payroll function to the Screening supervisors and managers. That was a significant change and a heavy lift to Mission Support, but they did a great job. HR managed to keep up with all of the personnel moves throughout the year to include hiring, promotional processes, transfers, retirements and the many other services they provide to our large workforce across all four airports.
As we look ahead to 2020, there are a lot of opportunities, changes and challenges ahead that will make the new year an exciting time for us all. We already have new screening equipment being installed in the new Terminal B checkpoint at LGA. That checkpoint will become operational this Spring. We have a lot of training to provide to the officers working in Terminal B and we know there will be the expected challenges associated with opening a new facility, but I have no doubt that we will be successful in the transition to a new terminal. As in the past, LGA officers always rise up to a challenge and overcome the obstacles and the opening of the new checkpoint will be no different. I have no doubt that the team in Terminal B will make it work better than expected.
As stated earlier, SWF will open the new FIS in June. We also hope to see a new carrier start operations at SWF.
At LGA and SWF, we are participating in the WE SOAR initiative by the PANYNJ to improve passenger service at all PANYNJ airports. So far we have seen excellent results at LGA and SWF based on the ratings of our personnel at both airports. Thank you for your professionalism, respect and courtesy to the traveling public which reflects well on every member of the TSA.
We will continue our leadership training for our Managers who were not in the September class and we still owe some exchange tours to some TSMs in the first class. We will also hold a series of leadership training classes for our STSOs this year.
We will continue to make promotions and appointments to specialized positions. Prepare your resumes now. Seek help from HR with tips on effective resume writing and interview skills to effectively prepare yourselves for the selection processes. These are competitive processes so the competition will be sharp. Remember what I have said before, don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid of not trying.
I sent out a memo yesterday to all of our TSMs and STSOs with a new initiative at our four airports. It is known as “Finding a way to Yes”. There will be greater details coming out, but the essence of this effort is to get our TSOs, LTSOs and STSOs the days off they need when they are needed. I would rather give a day off to someone in need who properly asks for the time than to deny such requests and have some people call out sick anyway. This is part of the change in leadership we have started, and it comes down to taking care of all of you at every level. Mission Support has a new initiative this year designed to bring all of the Mission Support services to the airports whenever needed through video conferencing. This ensures we provide the service to those in need without taking officers away from the checkpoints for extended periods of time. There are new initiatives coming in Screening and Regulatory as well for 2020.
Our leadership training is designed to focus our leaders on looking out for the welfare of those in our charge and ensuring you all have the training, equipment, and support and motivation you need to be successful. By addressing your basic needs in a timely manner, everyone can stay focused on the TSA mission. By improving our leadership and responsiveness to your needs, I expect to see a marked improvement in screening detection and a marked reduction in unscheduled absences. We will continue to recognize and reward success in these areas.
In addition to our focus on improving leadership at all levels, we also want, and need, to develop our future leaders. This will be accomplished through the use of the STSO mentor program which has yielded very good results as shown by the recent TSM promotions in 2019. We are also currently accepting applications for the Rising Leaders Development Program (RLDP) and Mid-Level Development Program (MLDP). If interested, please see your TSM or contact the Training Department for details. Applications will be accepted through January 10, 2020, so don’t wait to apply. We are also interested in getting eligible people into the Lean Sigma Six program in 2020.
You all deserve the very best leadership, and you have my commitment to deliver in 2020. In the new year, the focus is clearly on leadership development and delivering the services you all need in a more effective and efficient manner. This is designed to gain your trust and confidence. This all leads to what our overall goal is in 2020: align all of our effort and resources to the frontline TSOs and TSIs. They are the tip of the spear for the TSA and we need to set every one of them up to be successful. Leaders are expected to focus on those in their charge. Leaders are also expected to take initiative and drive improvement whether it’s in the delivery of services to their people, improvement in detection, finding new opportunities, eliminating waste, improving the morale of those in their charge or winning the hearts and minds of our people and the public one person at a time, one day at a time. I appreciate those people willing to take reasonable, calculated risks (not negligence or recklessness). Action will be rewarded over inaction. Initiative will be rewarded over the same old and tired way. We can and will do better in 2020. It all comes to the TSA Core Values: Integrity, Respect, Commitment.
Thank you all for your support, dedication, devotion, fortitude, teamwork and perseverance this year. I wish all the best to you and your families for a happy, safe and healthy new year. As always, it is my privilege to serve all of you.
Respectfully,
Bob Duffy
