After Brooklyn gun smuggling investigation, TSA adding new security measures
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is tightening security rules for airline and airport workers in the wake of a Brooklyn criminal case in which an Atlanta baggage handler was accused of smuggling guns on commercial jets, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Monday.
In January, following the December 2014 arrests, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer urged the TSA to immediately implement a national requirement that all airports physically screen airline and airport employees each day before they enter secured areas of airports.
In two separate January letters to TSA Director John Pistole and TSA Acting Administrator Melvin Carraway, Schumer called for the security breaches and reassessment of TSA security protocol to be reviewed in all “due speed.”
A day after Schumer’s January letters, Johnson announced a 90-day review of security measures, and now the agency is closing some security gaps the review highlighted.