“We also found that TSA’s efforts to enhance the security of the nation’s airports had not been guided by a unifying national strategy that identified key elements, such as goals, priorities, performance measures, and required resources”, the GAO report stated.
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So far, the Innovation Lanes have only been installed at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Elevating those workers to full time will enable the TSA to screen about 82,000 more passengers each day, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. He survived a below-freezing, five-hour flight to Hawaii, baffling the ground crew in Maui and airport officials who had assumed the fences were more secure.
That’s because of how the area’s airports are configured, Farbstein said.
But the extra lanes and bomb-sniffing dogs appear to have worked – at least for one weekend – and TSA spokesman Mike English said the bomb-sniffing dogs will remain at busy airports beyond Memorial Day weekend.
About a year ago, the TSA saw an average of 3,500 PreCheck enrollment applications a day; in recent weeks, they’ve seen an average of 16,000 a day, Farbstein said. “We’re hopeful that we’re working toward a similar experience for all other major travel periods”. More than 600,000 travelers were expected to pass through Orlando from Friday to Tuesday, and 483,000 had already come through by Monday afternoon, Fennell said.
The previous record for the number of firearms detected by the TSA during a single week, 73, was set back in April. “But today”, she said, “it’s smooth sailing and refreshing”.
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Schumer urged the TSA in early May to address the longer wait times by utilizing Passenger Screening Canine Teams, which he said would help address greater wait times and greater detection accuracy.
