The Department of Homeland Security is ramping up airport security following the suspected bombing of a Russian plane over Egypt. The new security focuses on certain overseas airports.
As Egyptian authorities investigate whether an airport insider may have planted a bomb on the doomed airliner, U.S. lawmakers and aviation officials are raising questions about security at American airports. They say dozens of current airport employees are being screened for possible ties to or sympathies with extremist groups.
According to news reports, surveillance video at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport is being scrutinized for someone with access to the plane on the airport ramp. While no official determination has been made, U.S. and U.K. officials have said they believe it’s likely a bomb brought down the flight last Saturday, killing more than 200 people.
With the recent congressional reports and hearing on airline security due to an undercover operation revealing that the TSA failed 95% of the time when detecting fake explosives, new action is being called into place.
“It’s no secret that people interested in harming America are coming up with creative ways to circumvent the existing security measures,” House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said at the hearing.
In airports both here and abroad extra attention will be paid to bags, including extra scrutiny of the list of passenger names to make sure they match the name on all the checked baggage.
Security will focus on airport workers who are poorly paid and could be susceptible to terrorists bribes.
The TSA has been under the microscope for months after a report was leaked showing investigators were able to sneak banned items in airport security past the TSA officials in checkpoints on 96 percent of their attempts.
A federal watchdog told Congress on Tuesday that a recent convert audit of U.S. airports found layers of security were “simply missing.”
A report by the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security General John Roth shared information regarding the checkpoints that were monitored at eight undisclosed airports in September.The findings were revealed during a House hearing on TSA problems where new Administrator Peter Neffenger also testified on what he’s doing to fix them.
“The results were consistent across every airport. Our testing was designed to test airports across the country in real world conditions. The failures included failures in the technology, failures in TSA procedures, and human errors,” Roth testified.
Congress has expressed great concern on the problems in security at our nation’s airports.
“In looking at the number of times people got through with guns or bombs in these covert testing exercises it really was pathetic. When I say that I mean pitiful,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) “… Just thinking about the breaches there, it’s horrific.”
TSA Administrator Neffenger explained in the hearing that the challenges that have been created by more and more people carrying on their luggage instead of checking them due to large baggage fees make it difficult to try to spot potential security threats.
While many at the hearing wondered if the problems were unfixable, General Roth said new TSA leadership has promptly began addressing some of the issues in the reports and he is optimistic about airport security being improved.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stated that 67 firearms were found in carry-on luggage during a week that ended September 17.
Of those found weapons, 56 were loaded and 26 had a round in the chamber. The TSA stated that the old record was 65 firearms that had been found in a week in May 2013.
During the most recent week that ended on September 24, U.S. airport security agents found 64 firearms in carry-on bags, of which 55 were loaded and 22 had a round in the chamber.
In July, the new TSA administrator, Peter Neffenger, stated to a congressional panel that his top priority would be better security at airport checkpoints, more specifically closing gaps in airport security.
Nationwide, TSA officers have found guns in carry-on and regular luggage. Recently, TSA agents stopped a man in a New York airport who had a gun in his carry-on bag. The day before, September 23, another loaded firearm was found in a passenger’s carry-on at the Des Moines International Airport in Iowa. The TSA reported that they have found more than 2,000 guns at airport security checkpoints this year.
The report comes just a few months after news agencies reported that TSA agents failed security tests that consisted of undercover investigators smuggling in weapons and mock explosives. The agents failed 95% of the trials. One of the tests even set off an alarm, but the agent wasn’t able to detect the fake explosive that was taped to the investigator’s back.
