The Obama administration’s nominee to be the next head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that if confirmed his top priority would be to address the findings of an auditor’s classified investigation that shows potentially glaring vulnerabilities in some of the screening equipment the agency uses to examine airline passengers aren’t carrying weapons or explosives before they board their flights.
Coast Guard Vice Commandant Peter Neffenger said the reported findings of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General’s (IG) Office are disturbing and that “if confirmed it is the immediate priority is to address those findings to close those gaps immediately but then to look systemically to what the issues are that brought that forth in the first place.”
Neffenger’s remarks were in response to a question by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, who mentioned that the reported findings of the IG’s covert testing showed that 95 percent of “metal weapons and fake explosives” were not detected by TSA’s security systems.
The IG is still analyzing the results of the testing and hasn’t produced a report, which will be classified, but last month briefed DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson on the preliminary findings. Johnson followed up by directing TSA to initiate a review of its screening equipment and to improve the training of its Transportation Security Officers, who operate the systems that inspect passengers and their baggage.
Neffenger said that that the IG’s investigation shows that there is a problem with the screening of travelers at airports because the “screening equipment didn’t work in those instances.” He said that in addition to the IG’s work, he wants to examine similar work by the Government Accountability Office and TSA’s own covert inspections to understand the gaps, take immediate action to mitigate shortcomings, and then look longer-term at what organizational systemic issues exist.
Ultimately, Neffenger said it is the security system as a whole that “determines effectiveness,” not a single layer.
Sen. Johnson’s committee heard testimony from Neffenger as part of their consideration of his nomination to be the next TSA administrator. The committee plans to hold a vote on the nomination by June 24 at the latest.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who thinks TSA is failing at its security mission, said the committee had a classified briefing on Tuesday, and added that for “those of us that that have been pushing on these issues, I’ll be honest, I’m not that surprised by this 96 percent issue in this report because there are other classified reports that we can’t reveal the particulars of in this setting.”
Neffenger said he thinks some aspects of TSA’s security system are working, mentioning the Secure Flight name-based passenger checks, but said he needs to dig deeper to better understand how well these systems are working.
On Tuesday the committee held an open hearing that included the DHS IG, a GAO official, and two whistleblowers, one with TSA and the other with the Federal Air Marshals Service. One witness, Rebecca Roering, an assistant Federal Security Director who oversees airport and airline compliance with transportation security regulations, testified that some of the problems with passenger and baggage screening at airports stem from low morale among the agency, an emphasis by agency leaders on passenger convenience over security, and a lack of widespread realistic testing, among other things.
Roering also said that the TSA’s primary trusted traveler program, called PreCheck, which provides expedited screening benefits at airport checkpoints in return for individuals voluntarily submitting information about themselves as part of a vetting procedure, has morphed into a process that allows a large number of un-vetted travelers to receive PreCheck benefits.
Neffenger said that balancing the needs for efficient passenger flow at airports versus security demands is “difficult,” but “not impossible.” He also stated that “agency culture, morale and effectiveness are a direct result of consistent and career-long training,” adding that “I will be close attention to training and workforce development, to include how to leverage the TSA Academy to improve individual performance and to instill a greater sense of price in the agency and its mission.”
As for PreCheck, Neffenger said he is a “fan vetting people going into PreCheck and the goal should be to have a fully vetted population in PreCheck.” He also said he would look into expanding the enrollment centers where individuals apply to become part of PreCheck. The “goal should be to move towards a PreCheck population that is a known population, that is a vetted population, and to the extent possible is expanded based upon that rule set.”
Neffenger’s confirmation process has already cleared the Senate Commerce Committee.