DATE: October
22, 2021
TO: All
Personnel: LGA, ISP, HPN, SWF
FROM: Robert A.
Duffy, Federal Security Director: LGA, ISP, HPN, SWF
SUBJECT: Weekly
Update Memo
I hope that all of you and your families are doing well and
staying healthy.
I want to start this week’s memo by advising all of you that
DFSD Matt McKeon was asked by DAO Assistant Administrator Susan Tashiro if he
would serve as the Federal Coordinator at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico
in support of Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), and Matt agreed to the
request. Matt will be leaving on October
28 and be in New Mexico for November and December, unless the refugees have all
been relocated, in which case Matt will return early. Matt will be relieving the FSD in Las Vegas,
Karen Burke, and our former Administrative Officer, now AFSD-MS in Las Vegas,
Alex Stungurys, who have been working at Holloman AFB since the start of OAW in
September. Good luck Matt in this
assignment.
Please be advised that this year’s Veteran’s Day breakfast
will be held on Sunday, November 7, 2021 in the Terminal B conference room from
0800 – 1300. All of our military
veterans, at all four of our airports, are invited to attend and enjoy a good
breakfast along with plenty of good company.
In keeping with our Veteran’s Day theme, I want to remind
all of our military veterans that we are asking for volunteers who are
interested, to submit a photo of themselves in their TSA uniform and a photo in
their military uniform. As we did last
year, we will have those photos shown on the variable message boards in
Terminal B at LGA. We did this for the
first time last year and it was a very popular initiative, so are doing it
again this year. Thanks to Frank Boateng
at LGA for this great idea last year and to STSO Delilah Rodriguez for bringing
Frank’s idea to my attention. Anyone
wanting to participate is asked to contact our Stakeholder Manager, Kristen
Jonus, for details and submitting photos.
I talked to LGA General Manager Tony Vero yesterday. Tony advised me that as of Monday, November
1, 2021, all TSA personnel assigned to Terminal A will need to change their
parking location from the Terminal A parking lot to the lot behind Hangar 7
North. The walk is short and the move is
due to the fact that passenger volume at LGA is growing. Since the parking lot and terminal B and C
garages are significant sources of revenue to the airport, we must move to this
new location. If you are looking at the
Terminal A rotunda from the front of the building, Hangar 7 is the large
building to your left. From the parking
lot behind Hangar 7 North, walk around the end of the building nearest to the
water, cross the street near the bus shelter and into the Terminal A rotunda. The construction material currently in that
parking lot will be removed next week.
GM Vero also advised that the PANYNJ projections for LGA are
very positive for the rest of October and November. October has seen up to 65,000 passengers
daily traveling through LGA (arrivals and departures). That explains why we are now screening well
over 30,000 passengers a day on average.
In November, the daily average number of passengers is expected to be
90,000 traveling through LGA or an average of 45,000 departing passengers for
us to screen. The increase in November
is expected due to the holidays and the ending of the airlines slot waivers
that went into effect early in the pandemic.
In October LGA has had an average of 700 flights a day (350 arrivals and
departures). November will average 1,000
flights a day (500 arrivals and departures).
This is excellent news for LGA as we have been very slow to recover from
the pandemic.
As a result of this projected growth, we will continue to
hire new classes of officers every two weeks.
Our hiring efforts will continue at least through the end of December
and beyond if necessary. We just
graduated a class today and are proud to announce that Officer Armond Cox was
the Honor Graduate of his class.
Congratulations Armond on that outstanding accomplishment. We are all proud of you for that great
achievement.
While on the subject of training, congratulations to STSO
Helen Lanfranco on her selection to the Training Unit. All the best Helen for continued success in
your new assignment. We are proud of
you.
As we gain momentum in our E3 career program, our E3 team
held a workshop at LGA in Terminal B on October 19 from 0800 – 1500. The event was well attended as 72 officers
came to the workshop to ask questions and receive help in submitting
applications. Based on such a positive
turnout, another E3 officer workshop will be held on November 6 at LGA,
Terminals A and D from 0800 – 1500. I
want to recognize the following people on our E3 Career Progression Team who
worked hard to conduct the workshop:
AFSD-S Ron Arroyo, I-Band TSMs Chantal Pardo, Sandra Bissoon and Sergio
Blanco. H-Band TSMs Aruna Gohel, Sean
Holian, Charlie Link and Richard Mui.
STSOs Caleb Bienne and Ricot Michel and our Labor Relations specialist
John Kolk. Thank you all for your leadership,
teamwork and willingness to help our E-Band personnel in their career
progression. Excellent work by all and I
am very proud of all of you for your selfless service to our officers.
Yesterday, TSA-HQ held a conference call, and the lead topic
was the vaccination mandate. The
deadline for all TSA personnel to be fully vaccinated is November 22,
2021. Fully vaccinated is defined as two
weeks after receiving your second shot of either Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or a
single shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
The final date to get vaccinated and fall into compliance with this
mandate is Monday, November 8, 2021, which is 14 days before the November 22
deadline. Please be advised that if you
are not fully vaccinated by November 22, 2021, the TSA will begin the
disciplinary process against you.
Discipline will be progressive starting with an LOR, then increasing
days of suspension and finally termination of employment for anyone not falling
into compliance. Our goal is to ensure
the health and safety of our workforce, not to discipline employees. COVID-19 is a deadly disease, so please give
serious consideration to this requirement to continue your TSA career. To everyone, please enter your vaccination
status on the DHS website.
There is a process to petition for an exemption to the
vaccine mandate based on the grounds of a medical condition or religious
beliefs. To request such an exemption,
you must use the ACMS form available on the DHS website. If you have already requested an exemption,
you must reapply using the updated form (2.0) on the DHS website. All decisions regarding religious exemption
and medical exemption requests will be decided at the headquarters level as
will all discipline. No discipline will
be imposed on anyone seeking a religious or medical exemption during the
adjudication process. If a religious or
medical exemption is declined, then those employees will be given 14 days to
receive their first vaccine.
With the continuously growing number of new officers
entering our workforce, I ask our leaders from the LTSOs to I-Band TSIs to our
supervisors in Mission Support up to our AFSDs, to provide all of the people in
your charge with a clear sense of purpose, direction and motivation. Communicate continuously with your people what
is needed and expected of them and listen to their ideas and concerns. Encourage people to ask for help. Be optimistic in your outlook. Be humble, you won’t always have all of the
right answers. Give credit for success
to others and accept full responsibility for the failures. It is an honor and a privilege to lead other
people. Be a leader of good character,
virtue and honor.
Saint Pope John Paul II once said that every person is
unique, precious and unrepeatable. Let
those in your charge know you care about them, look out for their well-being
and set them up for success. Thank you
for your continued dedication to the TSA mission and for your service to our
Nation.
Respectfully,
Bob Duffy
