Report: Airport Screeners Perform Poorly

Apr 22, 4:40 PM (ET)
By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Airport security screeners perform poorly, whether they're government or privately employed workers, the Homeland Security Department's chief investigator told Congress on Thursday.

The House aviation subcommittee received reports from Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin, the General Accounting Office and a private firm. The government reports found airport security is lax and all three described the Transportation Security Administration as overly bureaucratic.

Ervin told lawmakers the TSA screeners and privately contracted airport workers "performed about the same, which is to say, equally poorly."