TSA prepares for busy holiday season with reduced workforce

The Transportation Security Administration expects longer wait times at airports this holiday season due to increased passenger traffic combined with a reduction in the number of passenger and baggage screeners, agency officials said last week.

"With the holiday travel season only weeks away, TSA is concerned at the increasing passenger flows we have been experiencing," Stephen McHale, TSA's deputy administrator, told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee during a Nov. 5 hearing. "We could see longer lines this year than we saw last year at some airports."

Under congressional orders, TSA reduced its screening workforce from 55,600 in March to 48,000 by the end of September. This Thanksgiving and Christmas will be the first major holidays TSA faces with the reduced workforce, while trends point to an increase in the number of airline passengers over last year. TSA must cut its screening workforce to 45,000 by next October.

To help reduce potential problems this holiday season, TSA will hold public education events and hire more part-time screeners at selected airports.

McHale said TSA is launching a "large-scale public outreach effort" to educate passengers about what they can bring on planes, so screeners "are not distracted at security checkpoints by false alarms or items that passengers merely packed by mistake."

He said screeners have intercepted more than 1,500 firearms and more than 54,000 box cutters in the past year, and the number of intercepted prohibited items continues to rise.

"Frankly, we're surprised that we continue to find such large numbers of items carried by travelers, and we will continue to work on educating the public on the care they must take before heading to the airport to board a flight," McHale said. He also acknowledged that some people are simply trying to test the security system.

The education campaign, which kicks off next week, will consist of TSA staff hosting public events and conducting media interviews to tell passengers to prepare in advance and not try to bring suspicious items through screening checkpoints, said Nico Melendez, a TSA spokesman.

TSA is also hiring part-time screeners at 113 airports. Melendez said the extra screeners would give TSA the flexibility it needs to boost staffing at peak times during the holiday season.

However, federal labor union organizers have criticized TSA's effort to downsize the full-time screener workforce and hire part-time employees. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit against TSA in August alleging the agency violated veterans preference laws and other employee rights when it cut screeners this year. Gony Frieder, staff counsel for AFGE TSA Local No. 1, recently said TSA appears to be wasting money by hiring and training new part-time workers when thousands of qualified screeners who were laid off could be moved into those positions.