Editorial: Letting security lag

Monday, Nov. 19, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

Investigators with the Government Accountability Office walked through airport checkpoints several times this year with explosives, detonators and other items that could be assembled into a bomb.

Members of Congress were disturbed, to put it mildly, when the GAO delivered its report last week about the Transportation Security Administration.

"These findings are mind-boggling," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. "In spite of billions of dollars and the six years TSA has had to deploy new technology and procedures, our airlines remain vulnerable. This is unacceptable. The American public deserves better."

The report found the TSA needs to improve security. However, The Washington Post reported that TSA Assistant Administrator Ellen Howe rebuffed calls to change its security measures.

"We don't change security procedures in a knee-jerk fashion," she said.

Howe said during the same time the GAO conducted 38 tests, the TSA conducted 200,000 tests of its operations as screeners cleared 2 million passengers a day. She said the TSA continually refines its operations.

"There is nothing in the report that is news to us ... that we were not working on, or don't already know," Howe said. "If you get through one layer of security, it doesn't mean you get through all layers of security."

However, GAO investigators found plenty of holes in every layer of security. One investigator was stopped for having an unlabeled bottle of medicated shampoo, but the screener missed another bottle the investigator had - one with a liquid explosive.

The report comes a little more than a year after the TSA stepped up security measures. Last year, according to USA Today, an internal audit showed screeners repeatedly failed to catch illegal material.

TSA officials are being cavalier about the GAO report. They should immediately move to strengthen enforcement measures. They need to remember that one failure can have tragic consequences.