By Aimee Pontier, editor for The Horn News
A staggering number of U.S. airport employees may have ties to terrorist groups — and a refusal among government agencies to share data may have put countless Americans at risk.
According to a Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office report from last year, 73 private employees at nearly 40 airports nationwide were flagged for potential ties to terrorism.
So how did these people get jobs in what was supposed to be a tight post-9/11 security environment?
It turns out that the Transportation Security Authority wasn’t permitted access to all terrorism-related databases during the vetting process. As a result, the organization in charge of air travel safety allowed these 73 employees, previously flagged for potential terror connections, to continue working.
The airports with these potentially dangerous employees include Washington Dulles International Airport, Seattle Tacoma International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (NY) and others.
“TSA acknowledged that these individuals were cleared for access to secure airport areas despite representing a potential security threat,” the report said.
In addition to inadequate vetting, the “TSA did not perform recurrent criminal records checks due to current law and FBI policies.” Instead, the employees were expected to report any disqualifying crimes to the airports at which they worked.
The report also revealed the TSA didn’t require airports to get rid of foreign workers once their work visas expired. Once an individual obtains work authorization from the TSA, it will remain valid for two years, when they are required to obtain a new badge.
If at any point in this two-year period the individual is no longer legally allowed to work in the United States, their TSA work authorization still remains valid, and they are allowed to continue working illegally.
According to TSA national spokesman Michael England, the agency has requested access to additional databases that will better help it weed out employees with potential terror ties in the future.
However, TSA also admitted in its report that it was not aware how many of these 73 employees with alleged ties to terrorism remained working in American airports.
I truly believed (past tense) that our main gov’t. was smarter than this!
I can see it happening in California but not our main protectors.
It sounds like Obama releasing the bad guys from Quantanimo.
For shame.
This surely does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about flying, they are the culprit of so much damage caused and lives lost.. I don’t plan on flying anymore nonetheless my Daughter has to fly to the Tulsa Cancer Clinic and I do worry about this greatly , THIS IS AMERICA WE SHOULD NOT NEED TO HAVE THIS KIND OF WORRY IN OUR FREE COUNTRY.. what did our people fight so hard for ? for our freedom and NOW we have Obama letting them in by the thousands and hiring them jobs that can cause us much damage and lives.. sick of his practices.. sick of Democratic ways to condone his actions..
If I ever had a “warm and fuzzy feeling” about flying, I lost it when the Government decided two-inch knives were a threat–heck, even thumb-on-the-peons-shogun-era Japan allowed THAT much–and gave up on ever finding it when the sheeple rose up in protest when the TSA actually got a glimmer of common sense and suggested they’d be better able to find REAL threats if they weren’t wasting their time confiscating pocket knives.
Edwards: You and your kind blame Obama for everything give it up and GROW UP- You make such idiotic remarks. I am sick of it.
Terry, people like you an yours are living in the AMERICA that should have never existed until Mr. Obama, an his cort of puppets got into power!!!! Of corse you wouldn’t know , or you like others don’t want to see the truth! Your wonderful PRESIDENT Obama is bought and payed for from the same people that he said are AMERICA’S enemies! Prove me wrong!!!!! Thats why every one of our department, in the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, has a lot of MUSLIMS in them! Why do you think Obama sent 150 Million dollars to them ? Don’t you worry he will get his cut!!!!! You have a good day in Fantasy Land!!!!!!!!
Floyd: My friend, it is you that lives in a fantasy land. Your remarks and silly and come from idiots like Hannity, Rush and Beck. Do some studying, Floyd. You have a good day in your Fantasy Land!!!!!!!!
P.S. “Thats why every one of our department, in the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, has a lot of MUSLIMS in them! ” Give me some numbers of the Muslims in these departments. Post your reply please.
I believe Edwards was blaming the ENTIRE government. Our Executive Anus just offers the most convenient, recent, and obvious examples to point out.
Sir….we don’t blame Obama for everything, just EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG since he doesn’t have a clue how to do anything right or just doesn’t want to. This guy is as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks. He’s not stupid, just CROOKED. He hates America and if you don’t realize that then you are just as crooked as he is. If there is a major incident perpetrated by ISIS before he leaves office, he would likely take a case of champagne into a back office and have a celebration with the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD officials he appointed in the White House, much like a team winning a Super Bowl has in their locker room after the game. It is because of people like you that he got elected, then re-elected and maintains any kind of confidence rating. But he’s not done yet, when he gets out of office next year it will be interesting to see where he goes from there. Any bets??? Something to promote Muslims in America would be my bet.
Terry B; I don’t blame Bozo for everything gone wrong, but I have spent hours searching for anything he has done to benefit the Country. His Crony Friends are making out like bandits and the Gun Industry has grown over 200% except in the States with the highest gun deaths. His health exchanges are going bankrupt to the tune of 1.3 Trillion. (This one was cute, Govt loans money to set up exchanges and they are going belly up, losing the Govt. Subsidy, and now being bailed out by the Govt. I can think of no other scheme that loses money twice on the same endeavor.). Moral in the smallest Military in 40 years is a disaster and you don’t hear about it because of the cuts to forces and material are never mentioned in the so called medial and of course falling reenlistment rates are not a problem since no one wants to join a losing organization. The EPA is still writing laws, by calling them regulations, that is causing the Coal industry to go bankrupt and assets being bought by Foreign Countries. I could go on but most progressives are not capable of processing more than one, maybe two Facts at a time. Most are not capable of processing anything but Fairy Tales.
Why are aliens, legal or otherwise being hired instead of citizens? Especially in sensative areas, one would think that citizenship would be a requirement. The vetting process would be greatly simplified and the risk, while not eliminated, would be greatly reduced.
Just how stupid are our laws. These people knowing let the people work even tho their visas had expired. Homeland Security is no better. Our government is run by about bunch of dumbasses. Airports are just like them. They even break the law and get away with it.
The TSA is so stupid. It’s annoying to fly back nowadays. The Feds hasn’t made it any safer.
I so agree with you Diane
It’s a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Obeying one law can mean violating another, and you’d have to be a law professor to even KNOW all the laws that apply to a given situation, much less interpret how they should affect your conduct. Statistically, you’re committing three felonies a day. So it comes down to whatever law the authorities feel like enforcing on a given day.
Dianna….our laws are not stupid, just made to look stupid. They are crafted by wily lawyers who have a specific agenda and are paid huge amounts of money by lobbyists, some from this country and some from foreign countries to direct our society into their final destination. The laws are cattle chutes which will eventually take us all to slaughter, not literally but figuratively. Example, just look at what happened in Oregon a few weeks ago. An American citizen was shot (or assassinated) by federal officials over a land dispute. Not a thing has happened to the agents who shot the man and I doubt seriously it will even be investigated. It’s been determined that he looked to be reaching into his waistband for a gun, which is a real crock!!!!! He was white, but I assure you that if he were black, like Michael Brown in Ferguson, there would be hell to pay for the shooter. He’d either be in jail by now or paying a lawyer every dime he will ever earn to defend him. WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO REALIZE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS LITTLE BETTER THAN RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS UNDER STALIN, KHRUSCHEV ET AL.
Minneapolis has 50,000 Somalis and a lot of them have ties to terrorists groups. Many have jobs (baggage handlers and such) at the MPLS/STP air terminals….Seems to me we should be a little worried…no? Oh yeah…we wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Just think about that the next time you fly out of MPLS.
I’m flying to Detroit soon. And La Guardia – and a couple of other places. Bad enough that I had to pay a fortune for the tickets — now I have to worry about the TSA workers. What in the name of God is wrong with our government? Does Obama really hate his fellow Americans enough to kill them?
Since when has any politician cared about lives that don’t fit into their own political talking points?
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, o does hate Americans enough to kill them.
Good point Martin says ! Your point is valid from my point of view ! “????????????This!
I agree with you 100%. It is Muslims loading the planes, stocking the planes, etc. How convenient to slip something on board. I travel out of MSP and it is scary!
Our government sucks real bad. We are doomed if Trump doesn’t take care of this. Get rid of all the Muslims. Didn’t Black Hawks Down take place in Somalia? It all went downhill from there. I repeat, we are F*cked!
Mogadishu is more significant than most realize. The sheeple got all in a twist that Americans got killed–“For what?” they said–and now the rest of the world thinks America will go home rather than risk their precious lives to save any other countries’. All you “life above all” people step forward and take a bow for demanding the Mogadishu Effect.
I often wonder who in the hell is in charge in this country. Homeland Security?? Really, what a joke. If someone has over-extended their visas get RID of them. Deport them back to their countries. Why would you hire a bunch of Muslim “would be” terrorists to work in our airports in the first place? Makes no sense to me. It’s time to seriously take action and protect our nation. Hiring our Veterans would be a good place to start.
Thanks for saying what I was going to. I agree completely…and especially your reference to hell as that truly IS where all of our problems are from. Making certain to prioritize Veterans for the TSA jobs would be both a hug step to helping them back into our workforce and give us the security we deserve and need.
I so agree with you Dianne
A couple things so wrong with this article. If TSA doesn’t have access to all of the databases needed to vet possible terrorists, how does Homeland expect TSA to keep American citizens safe in the airports? If after being identified to have ties to terrorists, why were they not either released from their duties or jailed if need be? Also, the last sentence of this article states “TSA also admitted in its report that it was not aware how many of these 73 employees with alleged ties to terrorism remained working in American airports.” How could TSA not know how many remain working? I’m sure that they have an employee database for payroll, so they can definitely know who is working and who is not working for them. Such a crock! “The report also revealed the TSA didn’t require airports to get rid of foreign workers once their work visas expired. Once an individual obtains work authorization from the TSA, it will remain valid for two years, when they are required to obtain a new badge.” This statement is just ridiculous. If your work visa expires, you should be made to leave the country. How can this be a rule? It goes against common sense thinking, but wait….. our gov’t doesn’t do common sense!
Makes me feel real safe in flying. (NOT) Hope the politicians feel safe!
I feel physically sick after reading this article. How can the government wonder why we are fed up and ready for change.
Another part of Obama’s “legacy” of FAILURE
Boot Obama out of the White House now before it’s too late.
Sigh. I quit flying for a while after the initial incorporation of tsa, but laziness won out. (Plus, I get “road hypnosis” when driving long distances: 9 hours from home to the border.) And of course, you MUST run this as I prepare to visit family in Canada next week – flying out of seatac… I should not have read this. Note to self: carry own barf bags. Screw øvømit, the entire CONgress, and tsa.
Nice trains up there. I’d be tempted to save my pennies for a vacation, but it’s nearly a three-hour drive to the nearest passenger train.
The TSA like most government bureaucracies is staff by incompetent leaders. It sounds like it is time for Congress to clean house at the TSA.
How stupid we American can be?. We see what they are and do, and still we have them here working in Airports and every
were else. His term is going to end, he is going to go in his merry way with the money we gave him, while here in our country we are left behind exposed to this criminals terrorits, who want to behead us if they don’t like what we say, in our own country. GOD help us
Here’s how to settle this: If you can’t trace your family roots to this country back to 1491 then go back to the country of your origins. That’s how much sense this makes. Now watch all the stupid ass comments come pouring in.
How can they actually call themselves anything similar to “security” when they make such missteps as this? That is totally reprehensible! And that whole agency is part of the Department of Human Stupidity!
How’s that working out for you?