WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration doesn’t really know how good its airport security screeners are at finding weapons and is not doing enough to train supervisors to make sure the work is done properly, says a report by Congress’ investigative arm.
"TSA currently collects little information regarding screener performance in detecting threat objects," according to the General Accounting Office report.
The report also said the agency is falling short in making sure that screeners are effectively supervised. And the agency conducts fewer undercover tests of passenger screeners than the Federal Aviation Administration did when it was responsible for airport security — though frequent testing improves performance.
House aviation subcommittee chairman John Mica, a Florida Republican, requested the report. He said Wednesday he was "very depressed" after reading it.
"The bad news is it appears we still have significant gaps in our screening process, and also in our training personnel and in evaluating the performance of personnel," Mica said.
Copyright ©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.