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Indirect Air Carrier Compliance

Indirect air carrier compliance that rehearses the TSA inspection at each branch, station by station, with the record behind every line and people deciding what follows.

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Walk one branch with the agents, station by station ↓
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The problem

The acceptance screen still showed a known shipper whose status had lapsed

Between inspections the security program lives in many places: the acceptance desk, the known-shipper file, the hold area, training records, the badge system, the screening facility's own records and the binder. Each is owned by someone else, and nobody reads them together until TSA arrives and asks for a record at each point.

The gaps are ordinary. A desk reads the shipper status saved at booking, not at tender. A handler's recurrent training lapses and the build-up shift carries on. Facilities activates a badge from the hire record before the assessment result is back. An alternate coordinator leaves and TSA's contact record still names them. The security coordinator finds out on inspection day.

Built forSecurity coordinatorsBranch managersTraining leadsManaging directors

The Problem Today

Proof that a forwarder runs its air cargo security program is spread over six systems and a binder, so gaps surface at inspection.

3,800
indirect air carriers operating in the US, by TSA's count published
3
TSA inspections per carrier, at minimum, in any three years published

Pulled together only when TSA asks

  • Waybills
  • Training
  • Badges
  • Screening
  • Renewal now every third yearThe yearly check that renewal used to force has gone
  • Shipper status from bookingA shipper can lapse before its cargo reaches the desk

The Solution

  1. Each station walked in orderAgents draw a random sample and read the record at seven stations
  2. Status read at tenderKnown-shipper status checked on the day cargo arrives
  3. An inspector's eye firstA challenger lists what TSA would cite and rejects thin conclusions
  4. Signed by two peopleThe managing director opens the walk report and countersigns

Built-in controls

  • Containment is immediate; undoing it needs two people
  • Anything told to TSA is decided by counsel
  • Protected security program text is never displayed

What You Get

The renewal statement is signed on evidence already checked, and each finding carries an owner, a clock and a record.

  • Renewal date worked outCounted from the rule itself, with the days left shown
  • Training and access kept in stepLapses and early badges caught before an inspector sees them
  • Evidence pack for renewalWalk reports, findings, closures and signatures in one file
Features

Indirect air carrier compliance features for a mock TSA inspection

The security coordinator runs the walk with them, the branch manager and training lead fix what it finds, and the managing director signs. The screens follow one walk of an airport station.

demoSample data only: the forwarder, its branches, shippers, staff, waybills and dates are made up.

  1. 01Inspector's walk

    Mock TSA inspection of a branch, drawn as the path an inspector walks

    • Seven stations in inspector order. Acceptance desk, known-shipper files, hold area, training, access list, screening hand-off and binder are walked as TSA would walk them.
    • Program cycle across the top. Renewal due date, company target and each branch's last walk share one line, so the coordinator plans walks against the renewal.
    • One next step for the coordinator. The bar names the most urgent containment, so the first action is never buried in a list.
  2. 02Random sample

    Shipments and staff files sampled at random, the walk steered mid-run

    • Sample drawn at random when the walk starts. Waybills and employee files are picked the way an inspector picks them, so nobody chooses which records get checked.
    • Each record cited with a confidence score. The coordinator opens the waybill or shipper record behind any step and sees how sure the agent was.
    • Plain instructions change the plan. Adding the next branch to the walk is typed in a sentence and logged under the coordinator's name.
  3. 03Known shipper

    Known shipper status checked against the date of tender, not of booking

    • Each sampled shipper looked up in TSA's file. The status on the day of tender is compared with what the desk recorded, so a lapse between booking and tender shows up.
    • Passenger or all-cargo flight recorded. Cargo from a shipper that was not known is traced to its flight, so the coordinator knows whether it went on a passenger aircraft.
    • Consent to search checked per waybill. Each sampled house waybill is read for the shipper's consent, a record the inspector can ask for at the desk.
  4. 04Training

    Recurrent security training checked against the shifts actually worked

    • Completion records read, not assignments. A course counts only with its completion record, so a promised course is not mistaken for a finished one.
    • Time clock read beside the training date. Shifts on security duties after the due date are counted, which is what turns a late course into a finding.
  5. 05Access list

    Cargo access compared with security threat assessment results, badge by badge

    • Each badge with cargo access compared. A badge activated from the hire record before the assessment result came back is found the day the walk runs.
    • Submitted date and activation time shown. The coordinator sees how long access has run without a result and who can pull it.
  6. 06Mock inspector

    A mock TSA inspector that rejects the agents' own sample and widens it

    • What TSA would cite, station by station. Each gap is phrased as an inspector's question, with the record that answers or fails it.
    • Sample conclusions forced into a full query. Where a sample cannot prove a gap is the only one, every shipment and today's tenders are queried before the report says so.
    • A station's no-gap verdict reopened. When the evidence cannot carry a clean result, the inspector sends the station back and the finding is corrected.
  7. 07Containment

    IAC compliance gaps acted on the same morning, then owned and timed

    • Safer actions take effect at once. Pulling access, setting a shipper to unknown, holding a tender and taking people off duties apply immediately.
    • Undoing them needs a second person. Restoring access or a shipper's status waits for the managing director, so a gap cannot quietly reopen.
    • Closing needs the owner and a second person. The owner proposes closing with the record, and someone who did not fix the gap closes it.
  8. 08TSA contact

    TSA contact record update prepared by the coordinator for a second signature

    • Changed contacts caught by the binder check. A departed alternate coordinator is found against TSA's contact record while the thirty days to tell TSA are still running.
    • Written by a person, approved by another. The coordinator types the reason; the managing director approves before anything is sent to TSA.
  9. 09Second signature

    Walk report countersigned by the managing director after opening the records

    • Records opened before signing. Approve stays locked until the walk report and its key records have been opened.
    • Agree or send back with a reason code. Each decision carries a code and the signer's own words, and no one countersigns their own preparation.
    • What each signature means, stated above it. The managing director reads that signing the walk confirms the findings and actions and is not a filing with TSA.

Who keeps an indirect air carrier ready for TSA between inspections

The coordinator runs the program, branches and training fix the gaps, and the managing director signs.

Security coordinators

Run the security program, the branch walks and the renewal, and contain gaps

  • Each branch walked before TSA walks it
  • Gaps contained the same morning
  • Renewal date worked out from the rule
Branch managers

Fix findings at their branch and pull access when needed

  • Who and what to fix, with the record
  • Access pulled at once, restored by two
  • Findings assigned, with a deadline to close
Training leads

Assign security training and keep completion and assessment records

  • Lapsed training matched to the shifts worked
  • Assignments returned with completion records
  • Notes from staff read by a person
Managing directors

Sign walk reports, TSA updates and the renewal as second person

  • Records opened before every signature
  • Legal questions with a facts memo
  • An evidence pack for the renewal

A lapsed shipper flown as known, a mis-booked tender, two late handlers

Four gaps an inspector would cite at one airport station, each found on the walk.

Known-shipper cargo from a shipper no longer known

Accepted as known-shipper cargo because the desk read the status saved at booking, and flown on a passenger aircraft after screening.

A tender booked wrong the same morning

The full query the mock inspector forced found an 11:20 AM tender from a shipper that had lost known status months earlier, booked as known on a passenger flight.

Two handlers past recurrent training

One 22 days late with 9 cargo shifts since, one 9 days late with 4, both still on security duties.

Cargo access before the assessment result

A new hire's badge had cargo access for 3 days while the security threat assessment was still pending.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

More screens

Renewal clock, legal questions, people and the screening facility's records

Where the coordinator and the managing director track the program between walks.

Renewal date, worked outThe renewal application date counted from the rule, the company's earlier target, and what must happen first, with the date to confirm in TSA's system.
If the renewal slipsAir export revenue that needs the program, played forward under three scenarios with assumptions the analyst confirms.
Legal questions for counselTwo questions on whether to tell TSA, each with a facts memo; counsel decides, the managing director confirms, and the working note stays out of every export.
People with cargo accessTraining due, assessment results and access for each person at the three branches, with bulk assignment for those due soon.
Known shippers and today's tendersKnown, due for re-verification and not known, with today's tenders read against the status at tender.
Requests to outside partiesThe screening facility is asked for its records in fixed fields; answers are compared with the dock log, and notes typed beside them wait for the coordinator.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

House waybills, shipper status, badges, training and the screener's own log

What the walk reads at each station.

House air waybills and the acceptance recordConsent to search, known or unknown at tender, passenger or all-cargo.
Known-shipper recordsStatus looked up for each sampled shipper on the day of tender.
Training, time clock and HR recordsCompletion records and the shifts worked on security duties.
Cargo access list and assessment resultsEvery badge with cargo access against its security threat assessment.
Screening facility recordsRequested field by field and compared with the dock log, seal by seal.
Program binder index and TSA contact recordVersions, amendments and directive acknowledgments by title and date only.

What security coordinators ask about indirect air carrier compliance

What is an indirect air carrier?

An indirect air carrier is a forwarder TSA has approved to tender cargo to US airlines under an approved security program. Here agents walk each of its branches as a TSA inspector would, and the security coordinator and managing director act on what they find.

What are the indirect air carrier requirements a walk checks?

Consent to search and known-shipper status at the desk, known and unknown cargo kept apart, training before security duties, an assessment before cargo access, screening records, the program binder and current contacts with TSA.

Does this handle indirect air carrier certification or renewal?

TSA approves and renews the program; the managing director signs the statement in TSA's system. This works out the application date from the rule, keeps the walks and findings behind it, and prepares the evidence pack.

Does it ever show the security program text?

No. The program is sensitive security information, so the binder check reads titles and dates only, and nothing from the program is shown, quoted, attached or exported.

Who decides whether to tell TSA about a gap?

Counsel decides on a facts memo, and the managing director confirms as second person. Those decisions and their reasons are privileged, kept out of the audit export and the evidence pack, and no agent offers an opinion on them.

What happens when a staff member's note disputes a finding?

Notes typed outside the fields reach a person, never the record. The training lead must read it and write what they did before proposing to close the finding, and whoever closes it sees the exact words.

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Walk one of your stations
before the next inspection.

Bring a branch's waybills, training, access and screening records, and we will walk it with you as an inspector would.

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