Only Tokyo and Tel Aviv airports have secure perimeters says FAA official.
7/13/11, "Airport security breaches since 2001 raise alarms," USA Today, Gary Stoller
"More than 25,000 security breaches — an average of about seven per day — have occurred at U.S. airports since November 2001, according to newly released Department of Homeland Security documents.
More than 14,000 were people entering "limited-access" areas by going through airport doors or passageways without permission, or unauthorized people going from airport buildings to planes, according to the documents.
The documents, obtained in advance by USA TODAY, were submitted to a House subcommittee on homeland security Wednesday. The documents don't provide details about the security breaches or whether any could have led to potential attacks on planes or passengers.
The total number of infractions is small when compared with the large volume of traffic at the USA's 450 major airports, which have served more than 5.5 billion fliers since 2001. But critics say there is still reason to worry."...
- (The TSA and existing laws are just supposed to stop one person with ill intent. They have missed at least 25,000. On top of billions already wasted, they seek an additional $273 million in 2012. ed.)
(continuing, USA Today): ""It's clear the airports are not secure," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations. "For all the money, time and persistence we have thrown at airport security, it's a real mess."
Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nicholas Kimball said the breaches represent a tiny fraction of 1% of the air travelers who used U.S. airports in the past decade. The term "breach" is broadly defined and can mean accidental violations that pose no real danger to the public, he said....Testifying before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, the director of aviation at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, T.J. Orr, said the TSA is compromised by a "rigid attitude of arrogance and bureaucracy." Orr was critical of the lengthy amount of time it takes to get the TSA to engage on something like a security assessment of the airport.
The congressional interest comes amid the busy summer travel season and growing criticism of some of the TSA's screening policies, like security pat-downs for children and travelers in their 90s. The TSA has defended its policies, citing terrorists' persistent interest in attacking commercial aviation.
The House subcommittee says it does not have a breakdown by year when the security breaches occurred, but former Federal Aviation Administration security director Billie Vincent says 25,000 security breaches
- indicates a problem.
Vincent says, however, that more details are needed, such as what specifically occurred. Until such information is provided, fliers should only "be mildly concerned" about their safety, he says.
In 2006, tests by the TSA showed that security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY.
In 2003, five undercover Department of Homeland Security agents posing as passengers carried weapons undetected through several security checkpoints at Boston's Logan International Airport.
Documents being introduced at Wednesday's subcommittee hearing also show:
•6,000 security breaches in which Transportation Security Administration screeners failed to screen, or improperly screened, a passenger or a passenger's carry-on items.
•2,616 security breaches involving an individual gaining unauthorized access to the "sterile area" at screening checkpoints or an exit lane without submitting to all screening procedures and inspections.
•1,026 incidents when someone gained unauthorized access to a sterile area but was "contained" or "constantly monitored" by airport or security personnel until apprehended.
•1,318 incidents in which someone gained unauthorized access from airport perimeters to aircraft operations or security identification display areas and was under constant surveillance until apprehended.
(FAA Security Director) Vincent, who praises the TSA for compiling security-breach numbers, says that very few perimeters at airports worldwide are secure
- except those in Tel Aviv and Tokyo.
Chaffetz has no praise for TSA.
"It's absolutely stunning that the vulnerabilities are so wide," Chaffetz says. "There's not much to suggest that airports are more secure than years ago. We've just been lucky."
Besides the security-breach data provided to the subcommittee, a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday reveals other concerns about airport security and TSA oversight.
For example, the GAO says TSA plans to upgrade its explosive-detection devices for screening checked bags but "has not established an upgrade plan or conducted an analysis to determine what type of approach … is likely to be most feasible, efficient or effective."
The GAO says that because TSA has not yet upgraded the screening devices, many of them "are only capable of detecting certain explosives."
Kimball says the current screening devices in most U.S. airports provide "the most stringent level of checked baggage security in the world."
He said all new devices and technologies now being tested allow software upgrades without replacing equipment. Kimball also said the administration's 2012 budget request includes an additional $273 million to improve screening and reduce the number of re-scans and physical bag searches."
via Lucianne.com
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