Report: TSA missed 73 terrorism-flagged airline workers

The Transportation Security Administration failed to identify at least 73 people employed in the airline industry flagged under terrorism-related activity codes, according to a recent report by its inspector general.

These people, including employees of major airlines, airport vendors and other employers, were all cleared to access secure airport areas despite being watch-listed.


The reason for this, according to the TSA, is in part because the agency “is not authorized to receive all terrorism-related information under current interagency watchlisting policy.”

Rather than conducting criminal-history and work-authorization checks itself, the TSA generally delegated individual airports to do these tasks, though it had limited oversight.

“Thus, TSA lacked assurance that it properly vetted all credential applicants,” the report says.

Additionally, thousands of records used to vet these workers had incomplete or inaccurate data, the report says.

The agency “risks credentialing and providing unescorted access to secure airport areas for workers with potential to harm the nation’s air transportation system,” it concludes.

The latest news comes a week after interim TSA chief Melvin Carraway was reassigned the same day a bombshell report surfaced, finding that officials failed to stop undercover TSA agents from smuggling banned weapons or fake explosives through airport security.