TSA Whistleblowers Describe Security Concerns, Culture of ‘Fear and Distrust’ [+video]
Whistleblowers on Tuesday portrayed the beleaguered Transportation Security Administration as an agency mired in a culture of “fear and distrust” while raising security concerns over several programs — including TSA PreCheck, in which passes for expedited screening allegedly are passed out “like Halloween candy.”
The TSA employees leveled their criticism during a Senate hearing that follows recent bombshell inspector general reports. One showed undercover agents were able to sneak fake explosives and banned weapons through airport checkpoints about 96 percent of the time; the findings led to the acting TSA secretary being reassigned last week. A second report released Monday showed the agency failed to flag 73 commercial airport workers “linked to terrorism.”
The hearing was cut short by a bomb threat, though investigators did not find anything hazardous.
Before the hearing was broken up, Rebecca Roering, an assistant TSA federal security director at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the agency suffers from low morale. She said this is in part the result of agency leadership, composed of too many former commercial airline executives “placing more emphasis on customer service and passenger wait times than on security and detection rates.”
As part of this, she argued, TSA significantly expanded its PreCheck program. It now boasts more than 1 million enrollees who enjoy expedited security screening at airports. However, roughly 7 million are allowed to use it, according to whistleblowers. (Read more from “TSA Whistleblowers Describe Security Concerns, Culture of ‘Fear and Distrust'” HERE)
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