TSA Canine

    The Transportation Security Administration was enacted by President Bush on November 19, 2001 after the terrible terrorists’ attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Since then, we’ve seen an evolution of the TSA to continually update their practices, technology, and security measures.

    One area of TSA I find very fascinating is their Explosive Detection Canine Program. The program trains canines to support day-to-day operations that protect the transportation domain. These highly trained explosives detection canine teams are a reliable resource at detecting explosives and provide a visible deterrent to terrorism directed towards transportation systems. You can see canine teams at airports across the nation consisting of a TSA inspector or local or state law enforcement officers who are paired with an explosive detection canine. TSA trains canines to operate in a multitude of areas to include aviation, multimodal, maritime, mass transit, and cargo environments at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The TSA training facility trains the dogs for 12 to 16 weeks depending on their job, trains the handlers, provides training aids, and conducts annual on-site recertification. There are over 300 canines that complete the training each year and then are sent to their duty assignments protecting our nation.

    The training never stops for these teams. Each team is continually assessed to ensure operational proficiency in four areas: in the canines ability to recognize explosive odors, the handlers ability to interpret the canine’s behavior, the handlers ability to conduct logical and systemic searches, and the teams ability to locate the explosive odor.

    References:

TSA seeks to hire over 6,000 airport security screening officers. (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2021, from https://www.tsa.gov/