TSA has failed over a decade
The Daily Caller reports that 25,000 security breaches have occurred over the past 10 years even after the TSA was formed:
The TSA decidedly needs to be dismantled and replaced with a better organized business that can manage the safety of airports.
U.S. airports have suffered more than 25,000 security breaches under the watch of the Transportation Security Administration in the past ten years, a House subcommittee on national security reported today.It's worth arguing that even the Dubya administration has to shoulder some blame for this mess, which may even involve a considerable amount of political correctness that makes it near impossible to profile possible terror suspects correctly.
At a hearing today of the House subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations, lawmakers reported thousands of breaches and slammed the TSA for what members saw as a litany of security lapses at airports across the country.
According to numbers provided to the committee by the TSA, more than 14,000 people accessed sensitive areas of airports and around 6,000 passengers and pieces of luggage were able to make it past security checkpoints without proper screening.
Some 1,388 breaches occurred at the perimeter areas of airports, such as at JFK, where a quarter-mile of perimeter fence has been missing for four years.
Airports are responsible for monitoring and maintaining perimeter security, although the TSA is responsible for enforcing guidelines.
In a statement to ABC News, the TSA said the 25,000 breaches “represent a tiny fraction of one percent” of the billions of passengers screened at the nation’s airports since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. “Airports today are safer than ever before,” the statement said.
However, Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz called TSA’s operating procedures “security theater.”
“There’s a better, smarter, safer way to do this, and the TSA isn’t prioritizing here,” Chaffetz said. “How do we be more secure but less invasive? We have to find that balance.”
Florida Republican Rep. John Micah was less sparing in his assessment.
“We’ve created an agency that’s run pell-mell away from security and turned into huge unthinking, non-risk-based bureaucracy,” Mica said. “Everywhere I turn I’m appalled at what’s taking place.”
The TSA decidedly needs to be dismantled and replaced with a better organized business that can manage the safety of airports.
Labels: United States, US Congress, war on terror
