The Transportation Security Administration has been busy while Americans have been stuck waiting in super long lines at our nation’s airports, starting out the work week by axing the head of security and giving someone else the job.
According to an internal memo cited by NBC News and the House Oversight Committee, Kelly Hoggan was removed from his post as assistant administrator for the Office of Security Operations.
The panel points to TSA security vulnerabilities in the recent past — like missing fake bombs and banned weapons slipped in through security checkpoints by undercover investigators — while pointing out that Hoggan received $90,000 in bonuses in the last 13 months.
He’ll be replaced for the time being by by Darby LaJoye, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger said in the internal memo, and will instead be reassigned to new duties.
The move comes amid an increasing, constant chorus of criticism from lawmakers, airports, airlines, and of course, travelers who have been stuck in seriously long lines at TSA security checkpoints recently. Like in Chicago, where 450 American Airlines passengers were recently stranded overnight because of major delays at security checkpoints.
And it’s only going to get worse once the summer travel season heats up, pun totally intended.
TSA has already outlined some changes it plans to implement to ease those wait times, including more security personnel — including at Chicago’s airports — more bomb-sniffing dogs, and a renewed push to enroll travelers in the PreCheck system.
Neffenger said in the memo Monday that a new leadership team has also been put in place at O’Hare, with screening experts from airports across the country helping out.
The agency has also created a National Incident Command Center at its headquarters near Washington, D.C. Its mission is to track the daily screening operations and will have the power to move officers and other resources around depending on passenger demand. “These adjustments will enable more focused leadership and screening operations at critical airports in the national transportation system,” Neffenger said.
TSA Replaces Head of Security as Airport Lines Keep Getting Longer [NBC News]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist