U.S. airports have 73 TSA workers with ties to terrorism

WASHINGTON—A new Homeland Security report identifies 73 active aviation employees with ties to terrorism. It also found missing information in employee databases: Thousands of workers do not have Social Security numbers listed, and 300 workers did not even have a full name on record.

“Recent reports about TSA screenings in my view are deeply disturbing,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said during a Tuesday hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security. “Terrorists only have to be right once, to defend ourselves from attacks we have to be right 100 percent of the time. … The American people deserve better.”

Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth carried out the investigation. Under current law and FBI policy, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and airport officials are not required to conduct recurrent criminal history checks, he testified during the hearing. Roth blamed that oversight as the major factor for the lack of awareness.

“I’m appalled of this, we need to take care of this immediately,” said Rep. Earl Carter, R-Ga.

What’s worse, Roth said once employees are hired, they have unescorted access to all areas of airports. Any workers who establish connections to terrorism afterward being hired are not flagged.

Stacey Fitzmauricem, TSA’s deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said at the hearing TSA does not have access to certain watch lists that would have alerted them to employees with ties to terrorism.

TSA received notice of missing employee information in May 2014, according to the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y. In the last year, the TSA has yet to resolve the issue.

Fitzmaurice said many of the databases are not fully automated and that without access to certain lists, TSA could not detect all workers with possible ties to terrorism. She said TSA is working on a fully automated system to keep track of its more than 2 million employees.

Fitzmaurice assured the subcommittee TSA reviewed each case file of the 73 workers. She claimed no worker posed a threat to transportation security. But Katko pushed for a clearer explanation of how TSA determined the workers are nonthreatening. Fitzmaurice said the TSA consulted with “outside agencies” and carried out an in-house investigation.

Additional TSA weaknesses found in the report include 87,000 employee files without Social Security numbers. Many workers had no passport number or proof of citizenship, and investigators found 300 files without a full name.

“So you’re telling me we have people walking around, unescorted in secure areas in our airports, and we don’t even have their Social Security number?” Carter asked. “Isn’t this something that we need to take action on immediately?”

Roth makes several recommendations in his report for changes to TSA procedures. He said the agency must request and review extra watch list data and revoke worker credentials when they expire. The quality of vetting data also must improve. Fitzmaurice said TSA concurs with all recommendations and is taking steps to expedite implementations.

“It’s been a year. That doesn’t sound expedited,” Katko countered.

In Roth’s assessment of TSA procedures, he found all applicants currently receive a security threat assessment, including a terrorism check performed by agency officials. Each worker undergoes a fingerprint-based criminal history records check, and TSA verifies each worker has authorization to work in the United States. But through his investigation, it is clear TSA needs to do more once employees are hired.

To assist TSA in future changes, the subcommittee is drafting new legislation. A bill sponsored by Katko mandates coordination between agencies to determine whether TSA should receive additional data. It also would reform the vetting program for workers with access to sensitive areas of airports.

Katko said the latency in TSA response is unacceptable: “We hear the same thing from TSA all the time, ‘We’re working on it.’ We can’t have this from an agency that has the nation’s security in its hands.”