Watchdog Says Felon Was Allowed Through Expedited Airport Screening

Creatas/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General announced in a report that a convicted felon was recently permitted to travel through the Transportation Security Administration’s expedited screening program.

The DHS OIG says that the passenger was provided with a Pre-Check indicator and barcode on a boarding pass. Upon checking the traveler’s identification and boarding pass, a TSA agent recognized the felon and alerted a supervisor. However, the DHS OIG says, the supervisor instructed the agent to take no action and let the felon travel through the expedited screening lane.

The traveler had not applied for the expedited screening, but that the TSA had granted it “through risk assessment rules in the Secure Flight program.”

The DHS OIG made multiple recommendations to the TSA and issued a classified report concerning the need to modify its expedited screening program’s vetting and screening processes, it said in a press release. “Mitigating and reducing passenger screening vulnerabilities is important to our nation’s aviation security,” Inspector General John Roth said. “Incidents like this highlight the need for TSA to modify their Pre-Check procedures.”

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