TSA reacts to 'widespread' failures at Honolulu from 2010

A government watchdog is recommending the Transportation Security Administration better supervise and monitor staffers in Honolulu, after an investigation found luggage getting onto planes unscreened.

In a 50-page report released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found screeners were returning checked bags to airlines in the overseas terminal without inspecting them as required from September to December 2010. The report says the problem could have been avoided if supervisors provided better oversight and if the operation had enough staff and equipment.

TSA fired more than 30 workers, including the federal security director, when the problems surfaced.

"Without ensuring that baggage is screened as appropriate, TSA risks the safety of the traveling public by allowing unscreened baggage on passenger aircraft," wrote Anne Richards, assistant inspector for audits.

In a written response to the inspector general, TSA Administrator John Pistole acknowledged "widespread and frequent failures" in Honolulu screening after 40 officers and supervisors admitted knowingly violating the rules. At times in Lobby 4 for overseas flights, officers "were not screening any bags at all," he wrote.

In a statement Tuesday, the agency says it began supervisor training in July and is creating flexible protocols to improve security. The agency is also developing standards for measuring supervision of checked-baggage screening.

TSA expects all 4,400 supervisors to take the two-week training course by February 2014. The agency also plans to update its job descriptions by December and change its screening procedures by June 2013.

The inspector-general's report is the latest report of airport security screening problems.

The Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey reported Sunday that an internal TSA study found officers were patting down passengers one-sixth of the time without ever notifying passengers they could opt for a full-body scan instead, and took action against prohibited items in only a quarter of all cases. TSA replied that it routinely reviews its workforce.

A frequent congressional critic of the agency, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who heads the transportation committee, says the report confirms security problems found at Newark; Charlotte, N.C.; Fort Myers, Fla.; and elsewhere.

"This report and one TSA fiasco after another have demonstrated that this isn't the problem of a few bad apples," Mica says.

In Honolulu, a tipster notified TSA officials that screeners weren't reviewing checked bags in the overseas terminal. The inspector general later found that screeners were labeling luggage as inspected and returning it to an airline without looking inside. Customary swabbings for explosives didn't occur.

Details are redacted out of the report for security reasons. TSA didn't know how much baggage went unscreened in 2010, according to the report.

But the inspector general found that supervisors provided "occasional, little or no direct supervision." The report also found that TSA management didn't allocate enough staffing or equipment to handle the volume of checked baggage.

The problems occurred before the American Federation of Government Employees began representing the workers, but Cathie McQuiston, the union's deputy general counsel, says report validates rank-and-file complaints of staffing and equipment shortages.

The open-air lobby would get busy with flights headed mainly to Asia, including enormous boxes of belongings that were difficult to screen, McQuiston says. Luggage was carted to other lobbies for screening in the heat, but exemptions became so routine that workers grew used to short-cuts as airlines pressured TSA to keep flights on schedule, McQuiston says.

"It wasn't (screening officers) at this particular checkpoint being lazy," McQuiston says. "It was decisions by management at the highest levels of the agency not providing adequate resources do their jobs."

TSA fired workers in flurries during the summer.

In Boston in August, TSA fired six screening officers and suspended 14 after finding they weren't paying attention on the job.

During June:

• At New York's JFK airport, eight air marshals, including a supervisor, were fired for drinking alcohol during a training day. Six others were suspended for not reporting the misconduct.
• At New Jersey's Newark airport, eight baggage screeners were fired for sleeping on the job or violating other rules in a checked-baggage room.
• In Philadelphia, seven workers were fired after another worker was convicted of bribery a week earlier for charging workers to pass certification tests.
• In Fort Myers, Fla., five workers were fired and 37 more, including the security director, were suspended for failing to conduct additional random screenings of hundreds of passengers.