As millions of Americans finalize their Thanksgiving travel plans, a new report is revealing what Sen. Chuck Schumer calls "deeply alarming" facts about the effectiveness of Transportation Security Administration screening at U.S. airports.
Schumer is urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the TSA's employee training procedures and technology at airports across the country, after the Office of the Inspector General found it was able to evade airport screeners at least 80 percent of the time.
As part of the undercover investigation, the OIG successfully smuggled fake weapons, explosives and components through security checkpoints. A 2015 report also found agents were missing 67 out of 70 threats.
“In an era of lone wolf terrorists, the continued TSA security failures at airports across the country are highly concerning and a major threat we must neutralize,” said Schumer. “In light of the recent test result reports, TSA should move immediately to address all holes, shortfalls and gaps in training procedures, technology and the entire airport security process.”
Schumer says although the TSA screen more than 2 million passengers each day and 466 million bags last year, the reports show the effectiveness of screening has hardly improved over the last couple of years.
