73 airport workers with alleged terror ties not safety threat – TSA

Reuters/Kevork Djansezian

Reuters/Kevork Djansezian

One of the Transportation Security Administration’s top officials acknowledged that it had failed to identify 73 airport workers with alleged ties to terrorism, but added that an internal review found they did not pose a safety threat.

Stacey Fitzmaurice, the
TSA’s deputy assistant administrator, faced skeptical lawmakers
at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on
Transportation Security on Tuesday, saying that the agency’s lack
of access to all of the government’s watch lists was partly to
blame.

Earlier this month, an inspector general report found that 73
people with links to terrorism had been able to get jobs with
airlines and airport vendors, and had also been granted the
ability to access secure areas at airports. The report found the
missing links after checking the records of more than 900,000
aviation workers against the TIDE database. The flagged
individuals were found to have terrorism-related codes associated
with their names that the TSA had not picked up on.

At the hearing, Fitzmaurice was asked if this lapse could have
been caused by a lack of access to government watch lists such as
Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database. She
replied that it was possible.

READ MORE: TSA whistleblower says agency operates
on culture of ‘fear and distrust’ lax security

“That is correct. We did not have access to that information.
We are seeking that access,”
she said.

“We did review, though, all of the cases of those 73
individuals and have determined that they do not pose a threat to
transportation security,”
she said, though no details
regarding this conclusion were revealed.

Still, as lawmakers looked to close the gaps in the TSA’s
databases, Fitzmaurice said the agency “recognizes the value
of having as much relevant data as possible.”

One reason those with terror ties may have slipped through is
that, unlike the databases the TSA currently has access to, TIDE
lists individuals who have direct connections to groups or
individuals that have been flagged by the federal government.
They may not be suspected of terrorism themselves, but they could
still be on the list due to their connections.

The criteria for being placed on the TIDE list is not public
knowledge, however, and any alleged ties to terror that these 73
individuals have were not specified.

Department of Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth said
that TSA wants access to TIDE but its request has not been
formally made yet.

Fitzmaurice, meanwhile, told lawmakers that Roth found their
screening process to be “generally effective,” but
committee members were not convinced.

“It’s clear today that we can’t use that word effective, in
my opinion,”
said Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-New York), the
committee’s most senior Democrat, to the Associated Press.

“It strikes me as sloppy, and there’s no place for sloppiness
when we’re dealing with the security of our nation’s aviation
system,”
she added, according to the Washington Times. “We strive for a
security system that’s airtight and precise — and in order to
achieve that, our information must be airtight, everything we do
must be precise.”

READ MORE: Inspectors audit shows TSA failed to
vet 73 workers ‘linked to terrorism’ – report

Committee chairman John Katko (R-New York) echoed the sentiment,
saying lawmakers would pursue legislation to fix the issue.

“I highly encourage TSA to work with us, and not just close
ranks,”
Katko told TSA officials, according to Syracuse.com.“I can tell you one thing
going forward, we are going to legislate and fix these things. We
are not going to wait.”

One solution could be a bill proposed by House Committee on
Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), which seeks
to improve information sharing between the TSA and other
governmental bodies.

“The reality is that in this post 9/11 world, the terrorist
threat is metastasizing and we, as a nation, must remain
responsive to any holes in the security of our transportation
systems and ensure that the protocols keep pace with the
ever-evolving threat landscape,”
McCaul said Tuesday, as
quoted by the Washington Times. “Improving the vetting of the
aviation workers who have access to these sensitive areas of
airports can help close another backdoor vulnerability at our
nation’s airports.”

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