Commander’s Innovation Showcase Award

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – Earlier this week U.S. Air Force Gen. William M. Fraser III, Commander, U.S. Transportation Command, presented nineteen members of the Passenger Screening Team the Commander’s Innovation Showcase award. 

In a time when aviation security and safety are paramount Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics directed implementation of  DoD policy to ensure screening of all space available passengers prior to boarding. 

USTRANSCOM and component Air Mobility Command implemented accelerated screening across the globe at 56 Global Air Transportation Execution locations.  The team led by Rear Adm. David Baucom, J5/J4 director, Strategy, Capabilities, Policy, & Logistics Directorate, partnered with TRANSCOM’s legal and operations experts and AMC’s Logistics Directorate. 

The joint team collaborated closely with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Transportation Policy), Department of Homeland Security’s, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Transportation Security Administration senior officials to obtain 370 TSA “eSecure” accounts in order to establish an initial passenger screening capability—TSA eSecure is a secure web application used to forward passenger lists for vetting. 

The team was initially charged to identify every prospective location AMC operates aircraft.  Some 11,000 locations were identified and each had to be converted to the “Olson Time Zones,” which is TSA’s standard much like Greenwich Mean Time for DOD. 

The team successfully navigated through privacy act issues, TSA training requirements, established production accounts, and implemented passenger screening at GATES locations within 30 days; a monumental undertaking. 

The team also crafted guidance to the field, negotiated language with DHS/TSA avoiding use of sensitive information and published detailed business rules in USTRANSCOM’s Defense Transportation Regulation.

Yet another challenge presented the team when Office of the Secretary of Defense asked for accelerated development of an automated interface between GATES and the DHS router so that the DOD’s 370 eSecure accounts could be turned over to the services for use at their operating locations. 

The galvanized Passenger Screening Team worked with senior members (SES Level) at DHS/CBP to establish a communications pipeline, code end user software, and implement the interface within 60 days.  This effort has paved the way for the Services to begin rolling out passenger screening at their respective locations using TSA eSecure accounts freed up by the GATES interface.

"Their efforts have greatly enhanced the safety and security of Department of Defense flights," said Paul Peters, acting assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness.

The Passenger Screening initiative was a model of collaboration, team play, and interagency effectiveness. 

More than 65,000 space available passengers have been successfully screened against government watch lists ensuring the safety of military members, their families, DOD civilians, contractors, and our commercial partners.

Every quarter the commander and his leadership team review Commander’s Innovation Showcase award nominations from across the enterprise and recognize one of the many high-performing, collaborative teams who emulate the command virtues which are the foundation of the TRANSCOM culture – collaboration, trust, empowerment and innovation.

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