Massive TSA Failures Found At Major US Airports; It's BAD

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reported on TSA incompetence. One test after another, TSA agents have failed in epic fashion, with all sorts of prohibited items making their way through security lines and into the supposedly “secure” areas of airport terminals.

Back in July of this year, I reported on the fact that undercover investigations into TSA screening found a colossal failure rate of 95% at a major U.S. airport at Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Last Thursday, what’s referred to as the “Red Team” in town from Washington D.C., posed as passengers and attempted to sneak items through security that should easily be caught.

In most cases, they succeeded in getting the banned items through. 17 out of 18 tries by the undercover federal agents saw explosive materials, fake weapons, or drugs pass through TSA screening undetected.

Two sources told Fox 9 that the tests carried out Thursday were eventually stopped after the failure rate reached 95-percent.

Similar numbers were found in 2015 after an investigation. Yet despite two years passing, incompetence still reigns.

Here we are about four months later, and a larger undercover investigation has revealed, yet again, a shocking failure rate as major U.S. airports at the hands of our ostensibly benevolent overlords of air travel.

According to ABC News, DHS conducted multiple undercover investigations to see how well TSA agents were doing their job. The results showed that prohibited items made it through secure areas more than half of the time.

When ABC asked if the failure rate was 80%, the reponse was that it was “in that ballpark.”

In a public hearing after a private classified briefing to the House Committee on Homeland Security, members of Congress called the failures by the Transportation Security Administration disturbing.

Rep. Mike Rogers went as far as to tell TSA Administrator David Pekoske, “This agency that you run is broken badly, and it needs your attention.”

Pekoske was confirmed by the Senate this summer.

DHS issued a statement saying that there are currently eight recommendations for reforms to increase the success rate of security screenings. However, we don’t know what those recommendations are.

After ABC’s report from 2015, detailing the 95% failure rating, then-DHS secretary Jeh Johnson ordered changes to be made in how the agency carried out its duties. Clearly that didn’t do much.

Although lawmakers described the TSA’s performance in this round of testing as poor, it was an improvement from two years ago, according to the source familiar with the report.

In the public hearing today on Capitol Hill, members pushed for the full implementation of a program using new scanning equipment that creates a 3-D image of bags, giving screeners better ability to spot possibly dangerous items.

Despite that, here we are years later, and the incompetence remains. Despite the claim that reforms have been made to ensure that secure areas of airports are secure, they just can’t do it. Gaping holes exist in airport security, and no one but the TSA is at fault.

Perhaps it’s time to consider a much more radical change, something that goes beyond anything that any bureaucrat or Statist lawmaker would be willing to accept: abolish the TSA, and have the airlines manage their own security.

*GASP!* They couldn’t do that! No only the government can keep us safe?