Lawmakers reacting after employees with possible ties to terror get TSA credentials

Documents obtained Monday exclusively through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal 73 private employees at nearly 40 airports nationwide.

Orlando International and Daytona Beach International Airports are listed in the report as airports were private employees were able to get TSA credentials despite being flagged on a federal terror database.

According to a Homeland Security Inspector General’s  report  last year, the employees were allowed to work because the TSA didn't have access to all terrorism-related databases during the vetting process.

US Rep. David Scott (D-GA) said discovering four employees at his hometown Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were flagged as "very alarming and disturbing" news.  "We need to wake up in this country and understand there are people out there wanting to kill us," said Scott.  "This is the number one way these Islamic terrorists want to do it. They want a big bang. They want to blow us up in an airplane."

Florida Congressman John Mica echoed Rep. Scott  when finding out O-I-A and Daytona Beach each employed a worker with possible ties to terrorists. "What's important is the vetting," said Mica.

"Monitoring these folks before they put that badge on and are allowed in these secured areas if they pose a real risk."
 
The most employees were found at Washington Dulles with seven. Six were flagged out of Seattle-Tacoma International. Two were found at Logan International in Boston.  Orlando and Daytona Beach both had one.

New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, who chairs the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security, sent this statement:

"As our nation faces increased and evolving security threats, and especially in light of troubling reports about the serious gaps in the airport employee screening process, we must work to ensure the safety of commercial aviation and the flying public by requiring the TSA to conduct appropriate oversight of airport personnel. I am continuing to urge my colleagues to quickly bring up and pass my legislation to strengthen and improve airport security and am optimistic that the full Senate will consider it."
Sen. Ayotte proposed a bill which will strengthen the vetting process for TSA workers at airports.
 
 TSA national spokesman Michael England wrote:
"There is no evidence to support the suggestion by some that 73 DHS employees are on the U.S. Government's consolidated terrorist watch list. In fact, DHS utilizes information on the terrorist watch list to screen and vet, including those individuals with access to secure areas of an airport. DHS holds our employees to the highest possible standards and fully vets throughout term of employment."
"In light of the current security environment and growing concerns about insider threat in the transportation sector, TSA has requested and received approval for automated access to additional information for use in vetting credentialed populations.  Having automated access to this data makes it possible for TSA to make more informed security threat assessment decisions for individuals seeking access to critical and sensitive transportation infrastructure.  This data is in addition to TSA's current use of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), which is the U.S. Government's consolidated watch list of known and suspected terrorists.  TSA's credentialed populations are already vetted, and continually re-vetted, against the Terrorist Screening Database."

The TSA says they don’t know how many of the 73 employees are still working but they don’t consider them a threat.