Congress’s List of Gripes With T.S.A. Is Long, Like an Airport Security Line

WASHINGTON — The head of the Transportation Security Administration faced pointed criticism from members of a House committee on Thursday during a hearing that examined many continuing problems at the agency, including long security lines at airports and suspected retaliation against employees who report security lapses.

The House Oversight Committee hearing was the second inquiry by the panel focused on management shortcomings and misconduct at the agency, which also included the awarding of bonuses to supervisors who ignored warnings about security lapses and allegations that employees who reported problems were reassigned to other airports.

A hearing last month featured three T.S.A. whistle-blowers, all of them senior managers, who said the agency remained plagued by poor leadership and inadequate oversight.

“There are some very serious concerns about the performance of T.S.A.,” said Representative John L. Mica, Republican of Florida, a longtime critic of the agency.

Peter V. Neffenger, the T.S.A. administrator, said the agency had taken steps to address some of the issues raised by members of Congress, including starting a program to retrain all security screeners and refocusing the agency’s mission on security rather than merely speeding passengers through lines.

Mr. Neffenger said he had also changed several policies, including one called directed reassignments, that employees at the agency said had been abused to relocate to different airports employees who reported security lapses and misconduct by managers.

“I share your concerns,” he said. “I hold those who violate standards accountable.”

The agency has come under fire recently for increasingly long security lines at airports. Many airlines say the increase in wait times has caused passengers to miss flights. And some airports, frustrated by the performance of the T.S.A., say they are considering switching to private screeners.

Mr. Neffenger said the long lines were a result of staffing shortages and higher-than-forecast passenger numbers.

“My opinion is that we are not at the right size,” he said. Congress has given the agency the authority to hire 768 additional screeners.

But some members of the committee said the problems went beyond staffing and training.

“This is a management and performance problem,” said Representative Mark DeSaulnier, Democrat of California.

The agency has also been criticized by its employees, who say they have been reassigned, demoted, investigated or fired for reporting lapses or misconduct by senior managers, charges that were later upheld by whistle-blower protection agencies.

Republicans and Democrats questioned Mr. Neffenger extensively about the practice of sending employees considered by managers to be troublemakers to undesirable locations as punishment. Lawmakers said the practice was not only abusive, but also costly.

Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the ranking member on the committee, said reassignments were “intentionally tearing up families” for seemingly no reason.

The allegations of abuse in reassignments were brought to light by Andrew Rhoades, an assistant federal security director at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, who said that he was relocated to an airport in Tampa, Fla., after exposing security lapses in Minnesota. The Office of Special Counsel, an agency that investigates whistle-blower complaints, later worked with the T.S.A. to rescind the reassignment.

Mr. Rhoades also sent the committee documents showing that top T.S.A. supervisors who ignored warnings about security lapses were awarded bonuses. An internal audit found that one top official received more than $90,000 in bonuses despite an internal audit that showed that screeners failed to detect investigators with fake weapons and bombs going through security lines. The audit showed that screeners failed to detect the weapons 95 percent of the time.

Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, also criticized the T.S.A. for its handling of Robert J. MacLean, a federal air marshal who was fired by the agency for leaking information to the news media. Mr. MacLean was later reinstated after a Supreme Court ruling, but he said he continued to be mistreated by the agency.

Despite the grilling by members on the agency’s performance, Mr. Neffenger did draw praise from some lawmakers, including Mr. Cummings, and Steve Russell, Republican of Oklahoma, who said he had taken positive steps to improve the T.S.A.

“I do believe that we are well on our way to making the T.S.A. a better organization,” Mr. Cummings said.

Mr. Mica, however, said he was not convinced.

“You cannot recruit, you cannot train, you cannot retain, and you cannot administrate,” he said. “This is a huge failing program.”