'Deep concern' about airport security

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- The chairman of a U.S. House panel Wednesday chided the Transportation Security Administration, saying he had "deep concern" about security lapses at airports.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations, said, "First and foremost, we have learned that there have been 25,000 security breaches at U.S. airports since November 2001. And I do appreciate the TSA in tracking and providing that data, but, obviously, those are the ones we know about. And the deep concern is what about the ones we don't know about and the creativity in things that can happen in the future."

He said lawmakers are "deeply concerned about the TSA failing to conduct threat and vulnerability assessments in order to identify gaps in perimeter screening. ... TSA also lacks a national strategy to secure commercial airports and access controls, this again coming from a (Government Accounting Office) report that says that the nation's 457 commercial airports have not, quote, 'been guided by a unifying national strategy,' end quote."

Assistant TSA Administrator John Sammon told the panel, "TSA does complete security assessments, including the perimeter of all airports, every year ... we've done 27,000 inspections."

But Sammon conceded the agency "will not do 100 percent of 450 airports with the FBI every year, no."