New TSA Chief Promises to Improve Airport Security

Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport

The new head of the Transportation Security Administration vowed to tighten airport security, better train employees, and make security screenings “less invasive” for PreCheck members.

The agency has come under fire following recent unsuccessful bomb and weapon tests in which TSA agents failed to locate the fake weapons in 67 of 70 instances, a failure rate of 96%.

“It disturbs me we had that failure rate at the checkpoint,” said TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger before the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

In addition, Neffenger said he supports risk-based screening such as PreCheck, the agency’s trusted traveler program.

“I want to separate a known population from the population I don’t know about,” he said, adding he wanted to make screenings “less invasive for the known population and lessen the burden on the TSA.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)