Asked what he thought of privatizing airport security, the head of the TSA laughably responded that “no matter how you do it, you need federal oversight of the system to ensure consistency and high standards.” Even more laughable, two NBC hosts just accepted that answer and moved along to asking if Congress needs to pay the TSA more.
Amid record lines, staffing turnover and scandal, the crew at NBC’s Today tried to help Peter Neffenger, the TSA Administrator, find someone else to blame during an interview on May 26. Naturally, the Obama administration and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson were off limits.
This type of kid glove treatment is typical for the networks. Throughout their nearly 49 minutes TSA coverage, ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows have been careful never to blame the Obama administration in any of their coverage. Not even once.
While the interview included some criticism of the TSA as an agency, Lauer and Guthrie both seemed to accept that Neffenger wasn’t at fault, and that he was doing his best to rectify the situation. “People might not mind waiting in a line if they didn't also read that when federal inspectors went in there, those screening tests failed 95% of the time,” Guthrie observed. “Just kind of adds insult to injury, doesn't it?”
“Well, as I said, we had to get better at our mission,” Neffenger responded. “And I’m going to focus on – this is a critically important mission, and we’re in a pretty high threat environment too. So you’re going to make sure that you do the thing you’re hired to do which is to protect the aviation system.”
“It’s life and death.” Lauer agreed, before moving on to the next question
Naturally, Congress bore some of the blame for Neffenger’s failure. “You need to be able to pay people more, don't you?” Lauer asked, “Average TSA worker makes about $30,000 a year. That's about the same as a manager at McDonald's. Nothing against the people at McDonald's. But shouldn't a guy or a woman responsible for keeping a bomb, a gun or knife off a plane be paid more and does congress need to loosen up the purse strings so you can pay these people more?”
The airline companies also came under fire. “Are the airlines doing enough?” Guthrie asked. “I know the DHS Secretary asked for airlines to waive those checked baggage fees, the theory being that if people check more bags, the line will go faster, and essentially they said ‘no thanks.’ Do they need to step up?”
However, despite repeated questioning, the Neffenger couldn’t say for certain whether or not the baggage fee change would affect lines at all.
“You know, I’ve been working with the airlines, all the U.S. airlines, and they’ve done a tremendous amount to help us in recent weeks. Hiring out contract staff to carry out non-related – or non-security-related duties, things like carrying the bins back and forth, and helping people, you know, to remember to take the right things off as they move across the checkpoint line.”
Lauer pressed him. “But if they drop those fees, would lines get shorter?”
“What I’m focused on is getting people moving efficiently through, I think that if they could help us enforce the one plus one rule, that’s very important. Because, if you can reduce pressure at the checkpoints –”
Lauer: “With all due respect, if they dropped those first bag fees, would lines get shorter?”
Neffenger: “You know I...I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation. But I do know that there’s a direct correlation between people carrying prohibited items through the checkpoint and long lines at the checkpoint.” In sharp contrast NBC reported that last year Neffenger said long lines were partly due to "an increase in checkpoint screening of baggage due to fees charged for checked bags."
An additional 6 minutes and 26 seconds of TSA coverage on last night's evening news story bring the total amount of TSA coverage on the evening news broadcasts up to 49 minutes and 20 seconds, still without finding any fault in the Obama Administration for the debacle.
Transcript of portions of Neffenger interview on NBC's Today follows:
MATT LAUER: Tom set it up pretty well. There are a lot of things frustrating people right now. One of the things that frustrates the traveling public is: these lines didn't develop overnight. Somebody had to see this coming, with low fares attracting more travelers, with people taking things through screening sites that they weren't taking through in years past, and with staffing problems. Did you do enough to avoid the problems when you first saw them coming?
PETER NEFFENGER: As you know, when I came in last summer we were on the heels of a -- we were in a real crisis. And it was generated by the inspector general test that went public. So we had to get better on our mission and really focused on that. I knew that in doing that it was going to cause the lines to back up. And why is that? Because we had to slow down a bit. We weren't paying close enough attention. And I shifted a lot of people back into the standard lines, following an unsafe practice of moving people in.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: And I think that's the other big part of this. That people might not mind waiting in a line if they didn't also read that when federal inspectors went in there, those screening tests failed 95 percent of the time. Just kind of adds insult to injury, doesn't it?
NEFFENGER: Well, as I said, we had to get better at our mission. And I wanted to focus on – this is a critically important mission and we're in a pretty high threat environment too. So, you want to make sure you're able to do the thing you're hired to do, which is protect the aviation system.
LAUER: It's life and death. And something I read, Admiral Neffenger, that worried me, there had been reports coming from within your agency that on occasions when employees of yours talk about security breaches, or report security breaches, that in some ways they're punished for it. They’re reassigned or transferred. That can't happen if you're asking the general public ‘if you see something, say something.’ You can't have TSA employees afraid to see something and say something.
NEFFENGER: I agree completely. And one of the things I've been trying to do over the past year that I've been here is a fundamental transformation of the way we think internally, the way we treat our people and the way we encourage people to come forward. It's unacceptable to take action against people who are just trying to bring forward good ideas.
LAUER: Will you guarantee that will not happen in the future?
NEFFENGER: It will not happen. And, in fact, we’ve made – I've made a lot of changes to our personnel policies and practices and I spent a lot of time reaching out to people to understand what's going on.
GUTHRIE: A lot of people go to the airport. They see your agency -- I mean it's a federal agency that everybody sees. And a lot of times they wonder, would it just be easier if a private company came in here and did this work? What's your argument to that?
NEFFENGER: Let me start by saying that I think the security of this nation is a national responsibility, it’s a federal responsibility. So, no matter how you do it, you need federal oversight of the system to ensure consistency and ensure high standards. We currently have a system that allows an airport to request a private contractor. It's important to remember that contractor is still contracted to the TSA, to the federal government. And that goes back to that need to have federal oversight.
LAUER: You’ve got to be able to pay people more, don't you? Average TSA worker makes about $30,000 a year. That's about the same as a manager at McDonald's. Nothing against the people at McDonald's. But shouldn't a guy or a woman responsible for keeping a bomb, a gun or knife off a plane be paid more, and does Congress need to loosen up the purse strings so you can pay these people more?
NEFFENGER: Well, first, thank you for recognizing the front line of some of the most dedicated people I've seen. And they deserve our thanks every time we see them.
LAUER: And they deserve more money?
NEFFENGER: I would like to see pay and benefits reform across the system.
GUTHRIE: Are the airlines doing enough? The DHS Secretary asked the airlines to waive those baggage fees, if people check more bags, lines will go faster and essentially they said no, thanks. Do they need to step up?
NEFFENGER: “You know, I’ve been working with the airlines, all the U.S. airlines, and they’ve done a tremendous amount to help us in recent weeks. Hiring out contract staff to carry out non-related – or non-security-related duties, things like carrying the bins back and forth, and helping people, you know, to remember to take the right things off as they move across the checkpoint line.”
LAUER: But if they dropped those fees, would lines get shorter?
NEFFENGER: “What I’m focused on is getting people moving efficiently through, I think that if they could help us enforce the one plus one rule, that’s very important. Because, if you can reduce pressure at the checkpoints –”
LAUER: With all due respect, if they dropped those first bagged fees, would the lines get shorter?
NEFFENGER: You know I...I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation. But I do know that there’s a direct correlation between people carrying prohibited items through the checkpoint and long lines at the checkpoint.
