Aviation Security

On March 1, 2003, primary oversight of the enforcement of aviation security regulations was transferred from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.  Prior to that, we investigated cases involving the falsification of documents required by law or regulation to comply with aviation security requirements, such as aircraft and airman certificates, airport security and identification badges, and training and background standards for airport security checkpoint personnel.  OIG's aviation security investigations generally fell into three categories:

• Airport security firms which failed to conduct Federally mandated background checks on employees guarding secure areas of airports.
• Airport workers using security badges to gain access to secure areas of airports to steal items from cargo or luggage.
• Workers who lied about their criminal history or immigration status or provided false or inaccurate Social Security numbers on their application for security clearances.