TSA Agents Hired Without Full Background Checks

Some workers screening travelers at one major airport may not have been fully screened themselves.

Facing a backlog of background checks, the Transportation Security Administration gave airport employers the ability to hire any workers needed at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, according to a memo obtained by WSBTV Atlanta. The "regulatory relief" affects airports across the country, WSBTV Atlanta reports.

TSA officials said they ultimately resolved the backlog of background checks at the Atlanta airport, but made no mention of whether the situation had been fixed at other airports, according to WSBTV.

Typically, a new TSA hire goes through a variety of background checks. The airport looking to hire a new worker submits their information to the Airport Association of Airport Executives, which processes the background check, according to the TSA website. Then the employee’s information is checked against the Terrorist Screening Database. At the same time, the airport conducts its own background check process.

Because of a backup in the request submitted to the Airport Executive Association, TSA allowed airports to hire employees who hadn't fully completed the background check process. Still, all employees ultimately go through the full background check.

“The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was recently made aware that a newly implemented change to the system used to process airline and airport employee background checks resulted in a delay for requests submitted through the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE),” TSA said in a statement. “To allow for a continuity of operations, TSA has provided airports and airlines with interim regulatory relief. At no time was security at risk, and all new employees will still undergo identity verification and be subject to watch list matching.”

The TSA would not identify which airports have hired screeners without completing background checks.

The agency has come under scrutiny recently for incidents unrelated to the "regulatory relief." The Justice Department has accused some agents at Los Angeles International Airport of accepting bribes to look the other way when passengers transported drugs in their luggage. The DOJ alleges that there were five incidents between February and July 2011.

In addition, one man managed to sneak past a TSA agent to a secure area of Newark Airport earlier this month, according to the Star-Ledger. The incident led the airport to partially evacuate one of its terminals for about an hour.

Comments

[gmesausa]

11:49 AM on 05/09/2012

I applied for a TSA position several times.Passed extensive screening steps.Never been called.Exelent record to be a TSA screaner.And these things still happening every day.What's going on with Homeland Security?

[SimianNation]

01:20 PM on 04/29/2012

On my last flight through BWI (Baltimore), the line wasn't very long, so I was able to watch the TSA agent who was checking to see if the ticket and ID matched. The whole time i watched her, she was carrying on a personal conversation with another TSA agent. She was flying through her duties, seemingly able to check ID's at the speed of light.

When it was my turn, I approached her, and with a smile I said, 'Hello, how are you doing today?" I always find it easier with any form of customer service to be friendly. Well, my greeting went unnoticed and unacknowledged, due to the in-depth and important conversation this agent was having with her TSA friend. Without hardly even looking at me, she hands me back my ID, to which I say "Have a good day" knowing the chances of a response were doubtful. I was correct in my assumption, for she didn't even look at me when she handed it back, but just held it out in my direction. During the whole encounter, she did not pause her conversation even once.

Usually, I have found the TSA to be friendly and professional, but at least 60% of the time when flying through BWI (Baltimore) I have found them to be unfriendly, rude, unnecessarily commanding, and unprofessional.

[Carol Okutman Lind]

02:33 PM on 05/09/2012

I would have reported her.

[SimianNation]

02:45 PM on 05/09/2012

Probably should have.

[Sam D man]

08:25 AM on 04/28/2012

The agency at one time would not hire any one with prior law enforcement experience.Now how absurd can that be.Does any one know if that is still the case ?

[AZreb]

08:01 AM on 04/28/2012

Where does the buck stop? With Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Stupidity.

Don't you feel really, really safe knowing that TSA agents may not have passed each and every "security" check? Who is patting you down? Patting down your children or your parent or grandparent? Is your luggage safe? Will any complaint land you on the "no fly list"?

You have to feel sorry for anyone who has to fly for business or in an emergency situation. Plus, you have to feel sorry for the TSA agents who are actually trying to do a good job and being courteous and professional.

[King7David]

02:07 AM on 04/28/2012

TSA=THOSE STUPID AGENTS.

[Lonnie DeVorak]

07:29 PM on 04/27/2012

Another govt flub up.

[Glory Mooncalled]

07:18 PM on 04/27/2012

Considering what the job entails, only one kind of personality would want that sort of a job--and that kind of person usually has a police record. So far they've attracted all sorts of pervs and thieves and generally nasty people.

[AZreb]

08:04 AM on 04/28/2012

Those are the ones who make he news - there are probably many who do a professional and courteous job forTSA and took the job due to the bad economical situation in our country.

That said - there is no way in the world that this government (DHS) can be excused for putting people in jeopardy.

[Carol Okutman Lind]

02:34 PM on 05/09/2012

I don't agree with that. I think there are many people who would want the job because they WANT to make sure our citizens are safe when flying.

[Ava Sterling]

03:47 PM on 04/27/2012

OMG I just went through the most grueling type of TSA screening to get hired. This article is misleading and impossible. This is an out and out lie and Homeland should really force you to take this off the net.

[Lonnie DeVorak]

07:31 PM on 04/27/2012

If you read the article it says that they didn't go through with the background checks, not anything else that you may have filled out or went through.

[dogtac69]

02:19 PM on 05/09/2012

Ava Sterling

How is it a lie? What part(s)?

[Hendrik Kaarsgaren]

03:02 PM on 04/27/2012

they check me out...fine with me,I don't care.They don't trust me,my problem is ,I don't trust them either,I like to see where their hands go.One guy took my little back somewhere in the back,no idea ''why''all my travel money,documents etc was in there.That's what I don't like and I
told them so,I checked later and nothing was missing but he did wreck my sonycamery.evidently
he didnot know how to open the battery compartment so he forced open with a tool.when I pointed that out ,they simple said,''he didn't do that.''I know he did,that crook.Had to buy a new camera,why can't they inspect in front of my nose,what's the big deal here!

[rewith85man]

03:34 PM on 04/27/2012

If they did/do touch passengers inappropriately, then they should sue or so.

[dogtac69]

02:21 PM on 05/09/2012

Hendrik Kaarsgaren

Did you report this agent? That is where we need to start. Every time one of us sees something that is out of order with one of them, fill out a report. You can do it later and mail it in.

[tonymoschetti]

02:59 PM on 04/27/2012

And this surprises WHOM! The only time this administration vets anyone, it is to be certain they share the president's anti-free market, radical leftist agenda, like the EPA regional director who explained his “philosophy of enforcement,” which he acknowledged being crude and perhaps inappropriate, but shared anyway, talking aobut oil and gas companies, the enemies of the left since they have been very much responsible for America's power and prosperity.

”It is kind of like how the Romans used to conquer villages in the Mediterranean – they’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere and they’d find the first five guys they saw, they’d crucify ‘em, and that little town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”

Or in the same mould, Obama's appointment of self-described communist Van Jones:

“I met all these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’”

"How’s that capitalism working for ya? And the white polluters and the white environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the people-of-color communities."

“This movement is deeper than a solar panel! Deeper than a solar panel! Don’t stop there! Don’t stop there! We’re gonna change the whole system! We’re gonna change the whole thing!

[DonInEastRutherfordNJ]

05:28 PM on 04/27/2012

You're deluded if you think Georgie Bush's admin was any better at vetting government employees, or any more efficient at governing.

[AZreb]

08:07 AM on 04/28/2012

Extending and expanding failed programs and policies is not the answer, and that has been done too often by the present administration.

[nancyldances]

02:38 PM on 04/27/2012

Just another part of the Government that does not work and Obama doesn't address these issues where it comes to our safety and security. No he is too busy stirring up the pot on Treyvan Martin killed by a Hispanic man. This is no a race issue. Everybody under Obama seems to have some form of corruption in thier departments and he looks the other way. Perhaps this is the Republicans fault, perhaps the Maritn killing is also the Republicans fault.
NO MO B.O in 2012

[vavet]

02:08 PM on 04/27/2012

My general impression of the TSA agents I have observed is that they are on par with the security at the local mall. Not that they are bad people, but in a pinch I wouldn't want to think they were all I had at my back. Professionals they are not, and when you get a not so bright one with the badge and a gun, watch out. Many of them, if not working TSA, would be working the order lines in a fast food joint.

[David Amaya]

01:53 PM on 04/27/2012

Some workers screening travelers at one major airport may not have been fully screened themselves.

I think we ALL knew that!

[EricBlair84]

01:47 PM on 04/27/2012

What more evidence do you need that the TSA is a security FRAUD!

[Bah]

01:44 PM on 04/27/2012

Hey: most of us figured this out early on! only they the TSA would not admitt it... they also should require them to be able to "think" also read & write.

[Lonnie DeVorak]

07:32 PM on 04/27/2012

Mean that they have to read and write also? Oh boy.