TSA staff has grown from approximately 16,500 in 2001, to over 65,000 today, a near-400 percent increase.
In the same amount of time, total passenger enplanements in the U.S. have increased less than 12 percent.
With 65,000 employees, the report said, TSA is larger in personnel than the Departments of Labor, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and the State Department combined.
For the 457 airports where TSA operates, an average of 60 administrative people are at each airport.
TSA’s focus on guns and knives is misplaced, the report pointed out. “The primary threat is no longer hijacking, but explosives designed to take down an aircraft, said the report released Nov. 16. “Fewer that half of the largest 35 airports have explosive detection equipment.â€
More than 25,000 security breaches have occurred in the past decade, according to the congressional report, as a result of the obviously inefficient measures taken by TSA. The report also said that although “two billion passengers had passed through airports between 2004 nd 2008, only 1,100 persons were arrested—none on terrorist charges.â€
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And TSA wants more money and more personnel to do the job the passengers are now doing.
jaj48@aol.com
