John Mica and other Congressional leaders look on as President George W

The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA, November 19, 2001) was enacted by the

107th United States Congress The 107th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3 ...

in the immediate aftermath of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. The Act created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). However, with the passage of the

Homeland Security Act The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of ...

in 2002, the TSA was later transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. The legislation (S. 1447) was sponsored by Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings from South Carolina and co-sponsored by 30 other senators. Prior to ATSA, passenger screening was the responsibility of airlines, with the actual duties of operating the screening checkpoint contracted-out to private firms such as Wackenhut, Globe, and ITS. Ticket counter agents were required to ask two questions of passengers checking luggage: *Have any of the items you're traveling with been out of your immediate control since the time you packed them? *Has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry an item aboard the aircraft? Visitors had to pass through metal detectors and have their carry-on luggage X-rayed before entering the concourses. Photo ID was not required, as at that time the sterile concourse was still viewed as a public area.

References

United States federal transportation legislation 2001 in aviation Acts of the 107th United States Congress {{US-fed-statute-stub