TSA chief says progress being made on shortening lines

The Transportation Security Administration says it’s improving the notoriously long wait times at airport security. The TSA screened 10.3 million passengers during this holiday period, and more than 90 percent of them spent less than 15 minutes in security lines, Neffenger said.

Some of the changes include new management, hiring more people and improving communication between government agencies, airports and airlines.

DHS Inspector General John Roth told members of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that his office is developing testing methods, and that the checks will take place during the peak travel season.

The TSA says it found 28 guns at the Memphis airport past year.

Neffenger also said in his testimony that TSA is working with about a dozen airports to increasingly automate screening and create a “true curb-to-gate security environment, as opposed to just focusing it all around that checkpoint”.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, chairman of the committee, put the TSA’s mission simply: “Protect the air transportation system to ensure freedom of movement and commerce”. The new system has been such a success that other airlines and airports have contacted TSA about installing the systems, he said. “We went from a cultural situation where we were fought at every turn to one in which they now embrace oversight in a way that I think is a very, sort of, positive message”, Roth said.

The TSA has since curtailed expedited screening through faster lanes that allowed passengers to keep their shoes on and laptops in cases.

“This is where I see the greatest promise going forwards”, Neffenger said, adding that through innovation pilot programs, TSA could partner with the private sector for new solutions.

Also Tuesday, the House passed a bill that requires TSA to reassign “behavior detection” officers to security checkpoints and give local or regional TSA administrators more authority to make staffing decisions.