Consequences for long airport security lines and missed connections. The TSA‘s head of security is out. Kelly Hogan got a total of $90,000 in bonuses on top of his salary despite his agents having missed 95 percent of weapons concealed by investigators testing their competence. New Jersey lawmakers want the TSA to staff up at Newark Airport in order to increase security. NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz spoke with State Homeland Security Department Director Chris Rodriguez.
Cruz: Chris Rodriguez is the director of New Jersey’s Department of Homeland Security. Thanks for taking some time to be with us.
Rodriguez: Thank you.
Cruz: So the TSA — which plays a big part in obviously airport security — they just fired their chief yesterday, is that right?
Rodriguez: Well based on a congressional hearing, the head of TSA security was removed, yes.
Cruz: Tons of issues with the agency. He was removed evidently because of some major operational failures, I guess last year and in the past year. Screeners missing make believe bombs and weapons and so on. Why does that happen? I mean, is it training?
Rodriguez: Well I think — you know we were on the phone with TSA deputy administrator yesterday — my office as well as my counterparts from across the country — and what they were talking about was an effort to increase their personnel at a lot of the airports across the country. In particular focusing on the seven most voluminous airports in terms of passenger flow. Newark Airport and JFK were two of those airports. My hope is that over the next several months we’ll be able to see more TSA agents at our airports.
Cruz: The number is a critical issue right? Because I was listening to the union chief talk and they were talking about how they need 6,000 new screeners.
Rodriguez: Certainly, so I think their near-term plan is to bolster their workforce by about 800 in the immediate term and again deploying those assets in the human capital to the seven major airports that handle most of the flows.
Cruz: This week there was a press conference at Newark Airport talking about, they had some of the New Jersey legislators talking about just the delays and how it is really having a ripple effect across the system. What can be done about that? Is it just a matter of hiring another hundred or so as they said they would?
Rodriguez: Hiring is one thing but also from TSA’s standpoint is getting out the message for people to sign up for TSA’s Precheck. I think what they are going to do is redouble their efforts on the publicity front to make sure people are signing up for them. Because those lines through Precheck are about twice as fast as going through normal security. They’re also telling people to show up at the airports two to tree hours before their scheduled flight.
Cruz: Why has there not been more buy in on this Precheck?
Rodriguez: I think there’s a variety of reasons. The first is that I said TSA is trying to market that program a lot more effectively than I think they have in the past. Certainly enrollment is up as lines and waits have become much longer. I think redoubling those efforts and also from the state level one of the things they were asking the state partners to do was to also reinforce that message. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to try and help out and make sure that people know that that program exists.
Cruz: This is, I imagine, the new normal for all of us right? I mean just these having to show up at an airport two to three hours ahead of your flight?
Rodriguez: Well certainly something that TSA mentioned yesterday on the call was the fact that for the whole calendar year of 2016 as they anticipate flows through our major airports they’re going to be servicing about 700 million travelers. That’s the highest in years and certainly in the post 9/11 era. So what you have is a situation where you have more people flying but also the resources of TSA have subtly diminished since 2011.
Cruz: What are the biggest threats now facing airline travelers? It’s obviously terrorism but are we looking at more homegrown terrorism or is it the threat of international terrorism?
Rodriguez: Well I think it’s a little bit of both and what the terrible attack in Brussels showed us, for example, is that terrorists can attack passengers outside the security area. So when that terrible attack happened, we took very proactive and decisive steps to increase security, particularly at Newark Airport and our international hubs to make sure that we have appropriate security personnel positioned at those checkpoints and you know some of the security, some of public will see and some security the public won’t see.
Cruz: What kind of interaction or how much interaction is there between your office and the federal agencies that handle this stuff?
Rodriguez: It’s seamless cooperation particularly at Customs and Border Protection, TSA, the Federal Department of Homeland Security. Of course as you know for our airports, the Port Authority manages the airports and the security there as well. So I would say the cooperation has been excellent. We all spoke after Brussels happened to make sure we were all on the same page — the heads of the agencies. We developed strategies to brief the governor and to brief the decision makers on what it was that we were going to do.
Cruz: So what do we say in 20 seconds to people who are trying to travel this summer?
Rodriguez: Well I would say allow more time to go to the airport, particularly if you are traveling with elderly relatives or with children. Also to take a look at TSA Precheck to go to their website and sign up because that will save you considerable time.
Cruz: All right. Chris Rodriguez is the director of New Jersey’s Department of Homeland Security. Thank for taking the time today.
Rodriguez: Thanks. Thank you for having me.