A recent report from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that 73 American residents on the agency’s “Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist” are currently working at airports in the United States in unspecified capacities. The report is extremely troubling for Americans who are concerned about their safety at airports, especially after the recent incidents in Paris.
While some of the 73 suspected terrorists are most likely just working at airport restaurants or driving a shuttle around the airport parking lot, it is probable that many of the suspected extremists are working in security, luggage handling or even as flight attendants. The report comes after a recent incident in which United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials failed to detect up to 95% of some security checkpoints.
Officials from the TSA have stated that their employee records might be incomplete, with critical information missing. This is likely why very questionable individuals are working in a highly sensitive area like an airport. Making matters worse is that the TSA has admitted that the 73 workers in question have been cleared for access to secure areas in the airports.
The TSA has blamed this situation in an internal bureaucratic breakdown. Basically, the version of the Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist that was given to the TSA by the DHS was incomplete. This allowed many suspected terrorists of obtaining employment in airports. However, this is very sketchy because of the simple fact that the TSA is run by the DHS.
Simply put, because of the convoluted procedures of the two agencies, the DHS was unable to give the entire list to its subsidiary agency. Thanks to this failure by the DHS, there is now the embarrassment of 73 suspected terrorists working in United States airports.
The TSA is no stranger to controversy. The agency is known for having many employees that have committed acts of sexual harassment and elderly abuse. There have been several investigations against the TSA for misconduct and inappropriate behavior. Making matters worse is that they aren’t even very good at detecting for weapons or identifying security threats, missing up to 95% of weapons that were being passed through security by undercover agents.
Needless to say, this latest discovery that 73 employees are working at airports is only the latest stain on a long list of offenses by the TSA.
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