TSA, an 'abominable failure'
In only 13 years of operation, the TSA has racked up a lengthy rap sheet.
With accusations of employees stealing from passengers, snoozing behind x-ray scanners, illegally gambling at airports, spending money on lavish parties, and showing basic disregard for humanity by racially profiling and physically abusing passengers, time and time again scandals have reminded the American public that the agency is more than just an airport annoyance.
But on Monday, news that the Transportation Security Administration failed to detect 67 of 70 mock weapons in a secret test shook the Department of Homeland Security which oversees it and led to renewed calls for the TSA to clean up its act.
On Monday night Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson unceremoniously demoted acting head Melvin Carraway, and urged the Senate to act quickly to confirm U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Pete Neffenger, whom President Obama nominated in April.
The White House also weighed in, with press secretary Josh Earnest saying on Tuesday that the "President does continue to have confidence that the officers of the TSA...continue to protect the American aviation system," despite the findings from the DHS inspector general.
Others closely familiar with the agency say it will need more than a talking-to and a new leader to change its ways.
This test was "an abominable failure," said former TSA Administrator James Loy, who led the agency from 2002 to 2003. He took the results as a sign that "when things go well for a long long time the likelihood of complacency rearing its ugly head and kicking in is very real."
"Maybe enough time had gone by without a [terrorist attack] where that complacency gene had kicked in," he added.
Former TSA Administrator John Pistole, who led the agency from 2010 to the end of 2014, said the results of the tests, which usually do not leak publicly, are lousy.
While he would not reveal the results of past confidential tests, he said the findings that emerged this week were based on trials that took place at airports where checkpoints were manned by both private contractors and government employees.
"The test results," he said, referring to the classified specifics of the report, "are unacceptable."
Lawmakers piled on as well. Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who used to chair the transportation committee, said the 95 percent failure rate is evidence of a sweeping conceptual failure.
"[This report is] Homeland Security and TSA testing themselves. And that's a horrible report. But I've had TSA tested and their screening tested by independent testing and I can tell you the results are even worse." Mica told POLITICO on Tuesday.
"They're spending billions of dollars on a huge screening bureaucracy," he added, but the agency's screening needs to be integrating with intelligence so the agency can focus on "connecting the dots to people who pose a risk."
"We need to be looking for people, not things," said Mica.
The TSA was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and was transferred from the Department of Transportation to DHS in 2003. Over the years their security protocols have adapted in response to near-misses like Richard Reid's attempted shoe bombing, the UK-based liquid bomb plot, and other plots, and no major airplane-based terrorist attack has been successful.
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