Neffenger’s appearance at the committee comes one day after the TSA let go of its head of security amid the uproar about long wait times.
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Instead, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration showed off its new experimental passenger screening lines – what the agency said could be the first chapter of a book titled, “The Future of the TSA”.
Neffenger says any airport in the country can apply to privatize their security, and he’s open to allowing more to do so. Summer air travel is forecast to climb 4 percent this year to a record 231.1 million passengers, according to the Airlines for America trade group. That increase came amid a 12 percent drop in the TSA’s workforce and “a renewed focus on security”, he said.
Peter Neffenger laid out his plan in front of the Homeland Security Committee. Neffenger, anticipating the fast-approaching summer travel season, told the House Homeland Security Committee that his administration may seek more money to address staffing shortfalls in airports that are worst at peak travel times.
“The last three times I’ve traveled, they pulled me aside to do the full pat-down”, traveler Nikki Fralay said. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Los Angeles International, Chicago’s O’Hare International, Dallas-Fort Worth International and New York’s John F. Kennedy International are the five busiest US airports, according to Airlines for America.
Shifting more workers to full-time would not only help with turnover, it would also provide immediate relief for massive airport lines. Neffenger said TSA’s insufficient preparation in Chicago was a “failure”.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the panel’s chairman and a Texas Republican, was unconvinced. Administrator, the American people are angry and frustrated as we head into the busiest travel season of the year, starting this memorial day weekend. “And they deserve answers”. “It’s because the TSA bureaucracy has gotten weaker”.
McCaul pressed Neffenger about the abrupt ouster of Kelly Hoggan, the agency’s top security official. He also added that Hoggan is on paid administrative leave.
Changes announced by Neffenger aren’t likely to have much effect in the short run.
TSA PreCheck is an expedited security screening program connecting travelers departing from airports within the United States with smarter security and a better air travel experience. “A number of people are looking to abolish TSA and to re-privatize airport screening”, he tells KTRH. Those long lines leading to pointed questions from congress still being asked this morning. The airline industry has criticized the TSA for a lack of up-to-date information – you can readily find information on highway traffic delays but not delays in airport security lines.
The TSA’s plan included hiring 768 TSA workers by mid-June and adding more canine teams at the country’s busiest airports.
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“I knew that that would dramatically increase the number of people back in the standard lines”, Neffenger said, “and we weren’t staffed at the level we needed to be to man all the lines”.
