More outsourcing and subcontracting for TSA

The Transportation Security Administration has turned to ManTech International Corp. of Fairfax to help it develop an expanded program to screen noncitizens applying to U.S. flight schools.

The training provided to noncitizens at flight schools has come under scrutiny since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Several of the hijackers trained at flight schools in Florida and other states. Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with al Qaeda but denied being part of the Sept. 11 plot, trained at a Minnesota flight school.

The TSA took over the screening program from the Justice Department in 2004 and expanded screening requirements to include aircraft under 12,500 pounds. The original program covered aircraft above that weight and began in February 2003, said Kathleen Vasconcelos, a spokeswoman with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. "Within this last year, the TSA has made some amendments, so now there are three types of training that would require validation for airplanes weighing less than 12,500 pounds: initial student pilot training, multi-engine training and instrument training," Vasconcelos said.