If you’re a visual person needing a picture to help understand the magnitude of the recently celebrated 100,000th TSA Academy graduate, picture all of them shoulder to shoulder in the stands at Bryant-Denny Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It would be a standing-room-only crowd of TSA employees.
While the quantity is noteworthy, the real story is the strength a unified training center provides an agency with 440 unique locations.
“Since its inception in 2012, the TSA Academy East has directly contributed to increased transportation security,” said Executive Director of the Training Centers Division Tina Cariola. “Through its dedicated staff of curriculum developers and instructors, TSA Academy East established the standards by which all other frontline workforce training is conducted. This centralized training approach creates and maintains the consistency needed for the diverse and dispersed TSA workforce.”
As the saying goes, if you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport. The need to build cohesion in security screening fundamentals came to fruition under former TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger more than a decade into the life of the agency.
“TSA leadership put the full force of their support behind us and never wavered in their confidence,” remembered Academy East Administrative Officer Virginia Polson, who was on the ground floor of the program.
Academy East was originally launched at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, in 2012, starting with classes for supervisors and lead officers and eventually transitioned to basic training in 2016. The Academy also trains TSA inspectors, security training instructors, supervisors and leads from the field as well as its own instructors. The 100,000 graduates include participants from all of these areas, although the bulk over the last five years consists of screening officers from the basic training program.
“Coming into FLETC has allowed our students to mingle with other agencies and to have a better understanding of how they fit into the big picture of the Department of Homeland Security and our nation’s security,” said Polson. “When we began teaching classes, we had a staff of only 13, and all of us could fit into one small conference room. As classes grew, so did the Academy. We slowly but surely started recruiting the best instructors and support staff to enhance our programs.”
The classes, which set the tone and culture of TSA’s “not on our watch” attitude, are the best instructor recruiting tools the program has.
“When I first came to Academy East back in December of 2012, I was expecting to receive the usual training offered at the time to field officers,” recalled Jimmy Johnson. “I soon discovered that the essentials class was not the usual TSA training. After that class was over, I was asked to return as an instructor. I explained to them that I had no formal training in adult education. I was told ‘I can teach you to teach; I can’t teach you passion for the subject.’”
Academy instructors shepherd new hires, and that personalized attention for the students’ well-being was on display when Hurricane Idalia postponed the conclusion of the milestone class instruction and graduation. The students were sent back to their home airports and reconvened in Georgia to complete the basic training program (BTP) once it was safe to do so.
“The instructors’ passion for TSA’s mission is evident the minute you walk into one of our classrooms,” said Cariola. “They expertly impart the critical importance of threat detection with our new hire officers and then give them the tools and knowledge and confidence necessary to execute the mission.”
“I was so impacted by Academy East, I went back to my airport and immediately asked ‘How do I go there? How do I go do that?’" said Supervisory Training Instructor Jackie Rae Harvey. “Two years later, I returned to the Academy, the first academy basic training program graduate to become an academy instructor.”
Instructor Mary Bernardoni was one of Harvey’s mentors through her student experience and has received just as much from the job as she has given throughout the years.
“As a group we never give up, and we always find a way to do the impossible,” said Bernardoni. “Collectively, we are unconquerable, often leading the way with innovative ways to keep training going in spite of (government) shutdowns, quarantines and challenges. I can’t think of anywhere else one could find better leadership, team and individuals. I get paid to come and have fun every day.”
Operations Section Chief Edward Disla started out as a TSA officer and has grown his career at the Academy.
“I was determined to be a part of training officers with one harmony, one purpose and one mission. I was a graduate of the first class of instructors certified to teach the BTP program in 2015. We began making history. The most memorable moments for me continue to be graduation day. To see the growth in each officer, from the time they arrive to graduation date is rewarding.”
Kim Hutchinson, assistant administrator of Training and Development and Julie Scanlon, executive assistant administrator for Enterprise Support, presided over the milestone 100,000th graduate ceremony, which coincided with the week’s somber remembrance of 9/11.
Hutchinson praised the flexibility of the staff through the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent weather delay. Scanlon reminded the graduates that although they will go back to their home airports and build their networks, not to forget their Academy instructors are present for them as well. “Welcome to the family,” said Scanlon, “and go forth and do great things protecting this country.”
Related Video: Inside Look: TSA Academy Training
By Karen Robicheaux, TSA Strategic Communications and Public Affairs