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WashingtonIn response to testimony received today during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the effectiveness of airport security checkpoints, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a senior member of the committee, called on the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to immediately attend to critical weaknesses in airport security., DC—
“Next week, as Americans travel to spend Thanksgiving with their loved ones, they deserve the assurance that the hours spent standing in security lines will be effective in protecting them from becoming victims in terrorist attacks,” Congressman Cummings said. “It is unfathomable to me that TSA does not seem to comprehend the urgency in immediately addressing these serious security breaches.”
This morning’s hearing was held in response to a 2006 report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluating the effectiveness of security checkpoints in 21 airports. According to the report, undercover investigators in all instances were successful at smuggling liquid materials to make improvised explosive devices (IED) strong enough to blow up a plane through security checkpoints. In a recent follow-up investigation, the GAO was still able to pass through security with these materials.
In response to questioning by Congressman Cummings, TSA Administrator Edmund “Kip” Hawley testified this morning that security checkpoints are only one small component of nineteen layers of security that he compared to a combination lock.
“When a person is able to bypass one layer of security and embark a plane with the materials necessary to destroy the aircraft, all other layers of security become completely irrelevant,” Congressman Cummings said. “It makes no difference how complex a combination lock is when the lock is broken.”
The GAO reports are just two in a series of tests and evaluations by Congress, government auditors, outside security experts, and TSA itself. These investigations have often concluded that checkpoints are performing below expectations. Congressman Cummings has called upon TSA to immediately address these substandard security measures.
“It is absolutely critical that Administrator Hawley stop downplaying the importance of these reports,” Congressman Cummings said. “His low expectations offer the potential of extremely dangerous ramifications for the American people.”
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