AfA weighs in on TSA failures

Following a covert operation to see if Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint screeners were doing their job, the temporary head of the TSA has been removed. The screeners failed to detect mock explosives and weapons in 95 percent of tests carried out by undercover agents.

The acting administrator for the TSA, Mel Carraway, has been reassigned to the Office of State and Local Law Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters. In the meantime, TSA’s Acting Deputy Director Mark Hatfield will lead the agency until a new acting administrator is appointed.

President Barack Obama has nominated Coast Guard Vice Admiral Pete Neffenger to take the helm as the next administrator of the TSA, recommending that the U.S. Senate confirm him as soon as possible.

Brandon Fried, the director of the Airforwarders Association, issued this statement:

“We applaud the Secretary of Homeland Security for his swift action in the wake of these troubling test results, and we hope it will prompt the Senate to expedite the nomination of Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger to take the helm at TSA.  Airline safety and security is our top priority as an association, and accordingly the AfA works very closely with TSA to make sure we do our part as air forwarders to prevent any loss of faith in security systems and processes, as this would have a severe impact on our members and on vital supply chains.  We are confident that efforts to address this latest challenge at TSA, and to deal with a range of other vital security issues, will be significantly enhanced by having a presidential appointee on the job.”

Airport screeners failed to detect banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airports, ABC News said, citing officials briefed on a report by Homeland Security’s inspector general. In one test, the network said an undercover agent was stopped when he set off an alarm at a checkpoint but that TSA screeners then failed to find a fake explosive device taped to his back when they patted him down.