Not be here right now and thats reflective upon that leadership. And i dont think there is a day that mr. Neffenger doesnt come to work and just he didnt get full disclosure when he took the appointment, probably, and god bless him for being here and hes trying to cheerlead this. Thats why were at where were at. We did not have a plan b when we put in plan a. Mr. Lynch mr. Chairman, i want to thank you for your indulgence. Mr. Mica let me turn to mr. Palmer. Mr. Palmer mr. Rhoades, i believe you used to work alongside former acting head ken casprisin at minneapolisst. Paul. Hes stated before that thousands of airport workers who are only subject to random checks are the single greatest threat to aviation security. Now t. S. A. Employees are regularly rooted out from being caught rummaging through baggage or for inappropriate behavior which is obviously good were catching them. My concern is by these reports there are only three u. S. Airports that currently require employee security checks, atlanta, miami, orlando, and in atlanta they had a major gun running operation busted in 2014. Additionally, we have reports there are some 73 employees at about 40 airports who potentially have terrorist ties. At some point is the t. S. A. Causing more insecurity than it solves . I mean, frankly as a very frequent traveler, at that gives me concern that screening process may identify potential terrorists but yet they continue to work there. Mr. Rhoades so let me try to answer that question, sir. I believe if the t. S. A. Was mandated to screen every employee at airports it would require much more resources. I am unqualified to professionally comment on how much of those resources it would require but what i can say is that the minneapolisst. Paul airport, there are i believe over 10,000 people that work at that airport. Now obviously some of them come during various times of the day in various shifts and certainly the Insider Threat has received a new focus based upon world events. What i will say, we are resourced in f. T. E. Based upon our mission. Our baggage and passenger screening. Again, im unqualified to comment whether we should also receive resources in that. I can say thats not our specific focus. Mr. Palmer let me put it this way. We are talking about basic screening, right . Mr. Rhoades yes, sir. Mr. Palmer every staff worker goes through screening to get into office here. In terms of being able to do their job, if you know you have to go through a screening process you show up early. Is that unreasonable . Mr. Rhoades no, thats not unreasonable, sir. I think what our administrator has done rightfully so is reducing some of those Access Points at those airports. If you are aware of whats called sida badges and Access Points, those are available to some employees. However, again, i dont have any data to suggest or talk intelligently with respect to how many Access Points. I can say at minneapolis the number of Access Points have been reduced and we continue to reduce them. Mr. Palmer well, just think about for a moment. If we know the t. S. A. Thinks theres 73 potential people employees with terrorist ties, there could be potentially others and we are not screening them. It doesnt give you a high comfort level. Mr. Rhoades i dont disagree with you, sir. Mr. Palmer mr. Brainard, id like to follow up on mr. Duncans questions regarding wasteful spending in which you all described expenditures such as 330,000 spent on an absentee regional director in minneapolisst. Paul. 12 million project that was over budget three times its original amount. And i could almost ask for a hearing just on project overruns. 336,000 on an app that you, mr. Brainard, described as being as effective as a ouija board. And im sure the more we continue to hear from other employees at different airports were going to continue to hear similar stories to that effect. You might be aware that last april the t. S. A. Aviation Security Advisory Committee released a report concluding they could not afford full employee screening and that it would not reduce the risk of overall Public Safety despite numerous reports from inside the t. S. A. Speaking out the warning to Insider Threats. When you look at this other spending mr. Brainard thank you for the question, sir. When it comes to spending, another example where they could have put the money toward making Something Like that happen, when they did the directed reassignments i went from iowa to maine. I had received near perfect evaluation. There was no vacancy in maine. The federal Security Director in maine received a perfect evaluation. He was being sent to wisconsin. Between the two of us, you are talking in excess of a quarter of a million move that was earmarked. One in jacksonville got sent to iowa. There was no vacancy. All these federal Security Directors were performing in excessive standards. No federal Security Director had more experience. The maine operation, which is a wonderful operation, was smaller. The one in wisconsin to arkansas, the one in North Carolina to los angeles, his spouse from los angeles to washington. The f. S. D. In West Virginia to san diego. There was no reason for these moves. I dont know what the price tag is on all those moves. But we could have certainly used that funding more appropriately. Mr. Palmer well, and that just brings me back to the point i was trying to make with mr. Rhoades that youre spending all this money and we know that not every t. S. A. Employee is up to standard. I mean, potentially 73 may have terrorist ties. But were spending all this money and were not investing in the Security Apparatus that we need to make sure absolutely positively certain that we have the very best people on the job and were protecting our airports. Dr. I saw you shaking your head, dr. Livingston. I presume you have a comment. Mr. Livingston sir, full disclosure. Just like my partner here, were from the same area as well. Im from mr. Palmer well, im from hackleburg, alabama, and i live in hoover. By the way, today is the fiveyear anniversary of the tornados that went through alabama with such devastating impact. Mr. Mica i thank the gentleman. Did you want to finish your response, mr. Livingston. Mr. Livingston to answer your question, sir, there needs to be greater oversight. I was part of the office that identified that original 73. We didnt have access to the list. I was actually part of the team that decided we needed to notify nctc that we needed to generate letter back to them to say we dont have access. And i was part of the secure flight team to say we needed to do a better job screening. There is an opportunity to do screening and there is a better opportunity for t. S. A. Do better monetary discipline. 10 million price tag spent on a watch floor. Yes, sir, there is a need to be more prudent with taxpayers money. Anytime you see an example of waste, fraud and abuse we need to do better. Mr. Palmer i thank the chair and i yield back. Mr. Mica i thank the gentleman. The gentleman from missouri, mr. Clay. Mr. Clay thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Livingston, t. S. A. Cut its screening staff over the past couple of years, anticipating that the Precheck Program would help speed up the overall process but not enough passengers have enrolled. News reports have indicated that morale inside the t. S. A. Is extremely low, which is likely a factor contributing to staffing shortages thats affecting t. S. A. Security. Reports indicated travelers are arriving at security checkpoints where not available queues are available for general screening and i can attest to that going through st. Louis airport. Im part of the Precheck Program, but its more often than not its closed. And im told by officers that they dont have enough people to staff it. Is there a longterm strategy to fix the morale issue and the employment issue . I noticed go ahead. Mr. Livingston yes, congressman, i know there is a plan. We are putting 200 extra t. S. O. s through the academy each week. Both counterparts can talk about the screening process but i can tell you from a precheck standpoint i know were putting more advertising out to get more people enrolled. Were dutiful to get more people into the program. Were trying to show them the advantages of doing that. Precheck is a high priority to the agency, sir, and were trying to get more people into that. Once we do that, the more people that are in precheck we think could sustain that much better. Id let my counterparts mr. Clay heres the point. The excuse i get at st. Louis airport is we dont have enough officers to staff it. So, you know, is that just something theyre telling me . Mr. Livingston sir, there is a staffing issue. I know the administrator has talked to o. M. B. About staffing issue. I know there is a longterm strategy. Its a resource issue both money and people. Turning the switch is going to take some time but hes addressed that. I think he has a short and a mid and a longterm plan. Hes working with senior staff to do that. I think both these gentlemen who are working in the airport can tell you what theyre doing daily. Mr. Clay some have suggested shifting t. S. A. s controversial Behavioral Detection Program to regular screeners. So let me go on. Mr. Rhoades, i have a question for you. Mr. Rhoades yes, sir. Mr. Clay kind of concerned about this article im reading about a Mohamed Farah from minneapolis. Are you familiar with him . Mr. Rhoades i am. Mr. Clay hes part of a iman and part of an influential somalia group. He said there is a ongoing pattern of racial profiling and harassment by t. S. A. Agents at the twin cities airport. He said recently he was asked by an agent who says, quote, hay, were you going to make a run for it if i hadnt given your ticket back . And the only response hes gotten from t. S. A. And the congressman from that area, mr. Ellison, is that they take these complaints seriously. Well, i think its a little bit more than that. Hes also been given a t. S. A. Control number from the agencys redress program and he said it doesnt help either. So what can we do for mr. Farah that would change the conditions that he experiences every time he goes through your airport . Mr. Rhoades thank you for that question, sir. You may not realize there is a New York Times article that was published this morning about profiling. You may know that in my Opening Statement i was asked to profile somali imans and Community Members visiting me in my office. Those are facts. It is written in my mid year evaluation that i provided to this committee. So mohammed is a director of ka joog. I was not there at the checkpoint so i cant speak to what was said. What i can say is whether your youre black, white, male, female, somali, jew, hindu, we should treat you the same. And it doesnt matter if youre flying on whatever airlines, you should be treated with respect. Again, im not either taking mohammeds position or refuting his position inasmuch as id like to say when we get to know people of the Somali Community, theyre hard working. They want to be american citizens. My mother was an immigrant. My mother was a japanese national, became a u. S. Citizen and took her oath of citizenship in boston, massachusetts. Mr. Clay well, how are you going to change his experience . When he encounters your agents, your officers . Mr. Rhoades with any investigation or inquiry, you got to get the facts. We can have a passenger support specialist, have someone assigned to him in the future when he flies out to make sure things like that dont happen. Mr. Clay have you disciplined the officers that he encountered . Mr. Rhoades i dont have the names to those officers. Mr. Clay your camera footage can identify. You have identified these officers. Mr. Rhoades again, i dont have those facts. What i am suggesting is in my own experience with respect to the t. S. A. , theyve been less than forthcoming in addressing my complaints. Sir, has somebody from t. S. A. Gotten back with these questions . Mr. Clay im realizing this guy is being mistreated here. Mr. Livingston would you like somebody from t. S. A. Mr. Clay yes, i certainly would. Mr. Livingston i would get back to you with somebody from t. S. A. Mr. Clay sorry. Mr. Mica no problem. Hopefully the gentleman will get a response. Let me question the gentleman from georgia, mr. Carter, now. Mr. Carter thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you for being here. We appreciate your presence here today. I want to start with you, mr. Brainard, if thats ok. As i understand it, at one point you were assigned in iowa, is that correct, in the midwest . Mr. Brainard yes, sir. Mr. Carter while you were there in iowa, you received the highest performance rating that you could possibly received while you were working there and i also believe you received a federal Security Director of the year award . Mr. Brainard yes, sir. I received the federal director of the year award. One of the two top awards you can receive in our agency and a number of other types of awards from local stakeholders, partners, fusion centers. Mr. Carter right. Ok. Well, then as i understand it, they tried to reassign you to maine . Mr. Brainard yes, sir. Mr. Carter they tried to reassign you to maine. Mr. Brainard they reassigned me to maine. Mr. Carter after you received all these accolades and awards . Mr. Brainard yes, sir. Mr. Carter do you believe that was their way of trying to get rid of you, to reassign your position . Mr. Brainard well, i cant speak to their motives. It would be unfair for me to speak to their motives. I speak to facts. Mr. Carter was it a bigger airport . Mr. Brainard no, smaller airport, less complex. Fewer employees. Mr. Carter why would an agency obviously they wouldnt have given you these awards if they didnt think you were doing a good job and put you at a small airport where your skills and abilities would not be as useful. Mr. Brainard according to them, the reason for the reassignment, my skill set was needed for that particular operation. Unfortunately, there was another Security Officer who had been a high performer. Thats the reason they provided. Each of the federal Security Directors who happened to be the longest serving directors in t. S. A. , there was a caveat. There were three federal Security Directors i was aware of they did not move but they had to sign an agreement to stay at their duty station one year and then they would retire and they forfeited their right to take any type of litigation against the agency. Three people were provided an exemption with the caveot they had to retire. July i think this is worth mentioning. There was a vera announcement which reminded everybody putting pressure on people to retire is a prohibited practice. Mr. Carter and you did relocate to maine . Mr. Brainard yes, sir. Mr. Carter when you relocated to maine was that a Financial Hardship . Mr. Brainard oh, yes. Mr. Carter was there a vacancy near where you were before or mr. Brainard no. There was no vacancy. There was in maine a sitting federal Security Director. There was no vacancy. And if there had been a vacancy, there were certainly other people there at the operation qualified to fill these positions. Its important to note when youre moving this particular skill set around the country we have some 750 assistant federal Security Directors and deputy Security Directors and the men and women that fill those positions most of them are more than qualified to fill those positions. Mr. Carter let me ask you, how much would it cost t. S. A. To relocate you to portland, maine . Mr. Brainard they earmarked 100,000. Mr. Carter i have 113,000. Does this happen elsewhere, mr. Rhoades . Mr. Rhoades sir, it happens everywhere. As you may read in my written testimony, id like to call the example of mark haut. This was a man that was moved from charlotte to los angeles. When he moved from virginia over to charlotte, the agents paid paid him 197,000 for that move. During that time two of his sisters and brothers died. His wife after he got a directed reassignment to los angeles was given a directed reassignment in los angeles back to washington, d. C. , on the opposite end of the United States. Thats the punitive nature of directed reassignments and high costs. Mr. Carter let me make sure im understanding this now. This is taxpayers money that were paying this . Mr. Rhoades yes, sir. Mr. Carter we could potentially talking about millions of dollars in taxpayers money mr. Brainard you are talking about millions of dollars. Mr. Carter and not only that, but it also causes the employee Financial Hardship . Mr. Brainard ill offer think. When i moved to iowa my counterpart in jacksonville couldnt come. He was off on medical. So you know what they did . They t. D. Y. d an assistant federal Security Director in iowa, put that person in a hotel for nine months. Nine months. They put her in that hotel for nine months and they didnt fill that position until january of 2015. Mr. Rhoades sir, ed goodwin from florida, he was given a directed assignment. He was supposed to replace jay in des moines and he had his parents were 89 and i believe 95 years old. One of them had alzheimers. His daughter was a High School Senior in her last year of high school and he was underwater in his mortgage and they gave him a directed reassignment. You know what he did, he quit, he resigned. And thats what he and the New York Times wrote about him as well. Thats what our agency does to people they want to run out. Mr. Carter ok. We got a number of moving parts here. You know, we got the what i consider to be wasting taxpayers money and im very concerned about. Weve got another concern about whether this is intentional and a way to get rid of employees or to discipline employees. Mr. Chairman, i just have to tell, im