Some TSA Agents Failed to Screen Bags for Explosives – Report

TSA Screening

Unsupervised TSA agents at Hawaii’s Honolulu International Airport repeatedly failed to screen some bags for explosives before putting the bags on flights filled with hundreds of passengers, according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

The Inspector General blamed the lack of supervision at the airport as a key reason for the screening failure as well as hundreds of baggage thefts blamed on TSA screeners at airports across the country.

“Without ensuring that baggage is screened as appropriate, TSA risks the safety of the traveling public by allowing unscreened baggage on passenger aircraft,” the report says.

“Theft and other misconduct by TSA employees has long been a key concern for the Office of Inspector General and our investigators have worked hard to bring individual wrongdoers to justice,” DHS Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards said in a statement to ABC News. “Our audit revealed a lack of effective and consistent supervision of TSA screeners by their managers, as well as inconsistent adherence to operating procedures. These are conditions that can contribute to criminal activity, including the theft of airline passengers’ valuables.”

The IG’s report, released today, says that for some months in late 2010, some TSA workers at Honolulu International Airport cleared luggage for transport without first properly screening it for dangerous materials in the airport’s well-traveled overseas terminal.

MORE…