TSA, contractors grilled on screeners' hiring
Transportation Security Administration says screening of inspectors to be completed by October.
Representatives of the Transportation Security Administration, Office of Personnel Management and several contractors were grilled by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security today, over the failure of TSA and its contractors to complete security checks on passenger and baggage screeners.
Subcommittee chairman Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-Ky., pressed Adm. James Loy, the TSA administrator, to acknowledge that individuals had been hired for screener positions even though their applications had been flagged for further security reviews.
Out of 55,600 screeners hired for security positions, Loy said about half had been flagged with a "yellow," or cautionary notice, because of irregularities or possible criminal records, at the time they began work at the nation's airports.
Getting all of the screeners through all of the steps of the cumbersome security process, including a final vetting by OPM, will be completed by October, Loy said.