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New TSA Head Promises To Improve Security Procedures

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Airport screeners from the TSA are supposed to keep the flying public safe, but a government watchdog has been testing screeners around the country on how well they're doing that, and the results are alarming. Well, today the new administrator of the TSA talked about those results on Capitol Hill and pledged to make changes. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: The findings come from John Roth. He's the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA. Roth described before a House panel how his office covertly tested airport screening.

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JOHN ROTH: What we found, in a series of tests which took place across the country at different airports of different sizes using a variety of concealment methods by individuals who are auditors with no specialized training or skill, is a universal disappointing performance by the TSA screening checkpoint.

NAYLOR: Roth said he couldn't go into specifics because of the classified nature of the issue, but he said there were failures of technology, of TSA procedures and human error. Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts called the lapses pathetic and more.

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STEPHEN LYNCH: I fly a lot, my family flies a lot. And just thinking about the breaches there, it's horrific.

NAYLOR: The new head of the TSA, former Coast Guard vice admiral Peter Neffenger, says one problem he has discovered since coming on the job in July is that there's been too much emphasis on keeping lines short at airport checkpoints and not enough on security.

PETER NEFFENGER: I really do believe that over time what happened was a great deal of effort to ensure wait times were kept to a minimum, people were pushed through the checkpoint. That puts pressure on the screeners to clear passengers versus resolving the alarms that they present.

NAYLOR: Neffenger says he's taken steps to improve and streamline training for screeners, including how to properly use the equipment - which he said had never been done before - and how to perform routine tasks.

NEFFENGER: There were 3,100 separate tasks and 88 different forms of pat down. So that was just - it's impossible. There's no one that can do that.

NAYLOR: Neffenger says he's taken other steps, including ending a program that randomly selected some passengers for expedited screening. But he says the biggest change is yet to come - instituting a culture of competence and professionalism at the TSA. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR News' Brian Naylor is a correspondent on the Washington Desk. In this role, he covers politics and federal agencies.