Straighter Peter Neffenger testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on alleged misconduct at the agency this is about two hours and 45 minutes. [inaudible conversations] the meeting on government and oversight reform will come together. Without objection, we will reconvene at any time. The public comes in regular contact with Transportation Security Administration, we have a fairly new administration who has had a chance to visit with, but it is important as the Oversight Committee that we continue to take a look at what is happening or not happening. What is not happening at the tsa. Today we will have a second hearing examining the misconduct and Management Practices that we have heard about, seeing about, and investigated at the Transportation Security Administration. This time of year traveling public picks up kids and families and people are traveling, sometimes at record levels. People get frustrated, they go to airports, there are long lines, there are frustrations and at the same time we have to have a balance to make sure that the airplanes are properly secured because the enemy and whatnot, they only need to give i once. And they deal with millions of passengers on a weekly basis with the tsa. We have a lot of good men and women who serve on the front line. Who are trying to do the best job that they can, dealing with a frustrated public, sometimes they are hot and sweaty and late. There are a lot of issues to deal with. Last summer the inspector, the department of Homeland SecurityInspector General, performed covert testing and found failures in the technology and failures in the procedures and there are alarming rates of success for penetration beyond the line. And that includes something nefarious being brought onto an airplane. The Inspector Generals recommendations are outstanding on the wake of the testing, they claim that they are making progress training employees to be more thorough as well as resolving security concerns. Yet tsa employees continued to quit at their current rate. The agency loses about 103 screeners each week through attrition. As the administrators told me a lot of these are parttime employees. Nevertheless it is very expensive to get someone trained up, to only have them leave later on in the process. In the year 2014, the agency hired 373 people, but had 4644 departures. You can see that you think of it as a bathtub, if you are pouring water into it, it is going a lot faster than you can keep people in the top, and there needs to be a problem. I am very concerned about the morale of Transportation Security Administration at the tsa. The government does do a good thing, ranking and doing surveys and coming up with scientific scientific way to assess the agencies. As of this time, the tsa ranked 313. Testimony before in this committee is a double standard with the tsa reheard Senior Leaders are treated with far more leniency them there rankandfile employees. We have one situation could believe i have ever met this man or i dont remember but he is a very senior person the assistant administrator of the office of Security Operations there is a gentleman his name is kelly receives the base compensation of 1,812,005 a very healthy salary since the promotion Security Operations have been abysmal. The Inspector General that the penetration test done previously were nothing close to a successful. There are successful to get objects and items through security but from a security standpoint absolutely rockbottom with their performance bed yet during this time the Inspector General found despite spending 551 million on the committee and training the tsa did not improve the checked baggage screening and last summer covert testing by the Inspector General saw the high failure rates reported by the media as a whistleblower said instead of being held accountable he received an amazing amount of bonuses beginning in 2015 and i will show you a slide. Not to pick on him but this is what is so frustrating he earns a base salary of 181,200,500 in 13 months he gets 90,000 in bonuses . But its just bonuses. Nine times he gets bonuses over a 13 month period. That is an addition to his health care and retirement. People dont understand that. The next five. Slide. So here you have John Polanski i dont believe works there in the market makes a recommendation to the person at the bottom that makes a recommendation that he gets a bonus and then he who made the recommendation then he recommends him and get a bonus and that happened four times. Go back to the first wide. Ray can file working hard trying to do the right thing have massive security failures and this person of the senior part of the food chain gets 90,000 in bonuses . I dont understand that it didnt happen this is there lead to a during his watch but we want to know what is happening to stop that procopius so how did he get this done . In the normal scenario in with their regulations and that is why we have to go back with the ig investigated they had no other policies prohibiting an arrangement and only loose internal oversight of the awards process for i hope we hear that will be cleared up to be truly rewarding those who are having success. But those bonuses for those that were in total failure this is contributing to the massive problem of morale and other challenges that we have. To the administrator teeeighteen has other challenges to overcome and even the perception that some current leaders have as they continue to harm route but it can teach your employees to speak up from the security challenges that impact the core responsibility to keep transportation safe. The Inspector General testified creating a culture of change giving them the ability without fear of retribution will be the most critical in challenging task and i am sure we will talk about that today. Sebelius spent considerable time the chairman of the to a rotation in Committee Hearing and would like to leave some time to mr. Mica of florida 84 conducting this with serious concerns of the performance of tsa for what you held just a few weeks ago for the First Time Since we created tsa people who have the responsible positions and willing to testify to almost the sheer chaos that exist with a the management and the operations. I can express my concern of the meltdown and i have prepared yesterdays staff had got me one figure 6000 American Airlines passengers missed their flights due to checkpoint delays and we hear that as members of Congress Last night i had tonight from hell three people who i invited who came to washington spent most of the day with me all of them miss their flights standing in the tsa line. I am so livid and wednesday is particularly bad but they would not have had the courtesy to accommodate people who could have caught their flight even though they were somewhat late i was on the phone for hours. One of the individuals whose family is leaving on vacation today had to get back to orlando to a company his family i actually had a staffer drive him and i bought him a ticket home last night you kid get ahold of one diem per cent of the tsa as a member of congress and they will not take your calls it is unbelievable. The operation with your 100,000 people standing around accommodating members of congress to get them on a plane but you can get a passenger to leave with his family . I want a list of all those people standing around that chauffeur members of congress and vip up to the front of the line but you cannot get three people one is the physical disability i will tell you what i am so disgusted mr. Chairman and makes you lose your focus but you cant ladies people dead here it is my report 70 known terrorist have flown on 24 different occasions going through your tsa. The most troubling of the testimony the u. K. And fatal ian d. You will with the training and the recording will be a failure and i told to that on the cellphone because you cannot recruit or trade core retail horror administer it is a huge baling Government Program but the most troubling thing was the testimony from the former assistant at been straighter for the office of intelligence and analysis to testified it is my testimony today nonprofessionals are running intelligence and analysis is the core of the government responsibility and i question him what was going on that most important government function to find the bad guys not stop the innocent dash of the travelers that we have chaos in the operation and i yield back the. A few very much. There have been a few times in my 20 years on this committee that i have felt so strongly about an individual. Administrator neffenger is a person who i had a phenomenal amount of respect for. When i was the chairman of the committee of coast guard and maritime matters it was mr. Neffenger the cleanup of mass called the deepwater horizon when the coast guard was buying ships the Radar Systems that were supposed to have surveillance 360 degrees but 180 degrees and radios when they got what didnt work. He cleaned up the mess and saved this country and the coast guard probably hundreds of millions of dollars. Savannah matter what happens , the thank you. I really do. Last month we heard testimony from three transportation in Security Administration employees. They raise troubling allegations about Personnel Practices that stretch back several years in some cases. The employees needs to be fully and fairly investigated. It is one thing to allege that we need all the facts so we can be about the business nattily of hearing testimony but bringing out the reform that is necessary. Unfortunately the committee has not yet had the opportunity to substantiate their claims. Let me pause here for a moment. What do me a big favor for the committee but distinguish between what happened preeminent post mr. Neffenger. He spent a good amount of time talking about the 90,000 bonus nobody has really against bonuses more than a hot then i have with the tsa despite their understandable frustration of what they endured comedies whistleblowers repeatedly told the committee that administrator neffenger was taking positive steps and make clear he sets a course for the agency to put a top priority where it should be on security. For example, a Program Manager the chief risk officer testified that administrator neffenger who is a man the integrity tsa were not compromised at the expense end when on to say cahow we will get better and keep pushing a better process. And we will get better and the administrator neffenger has made his priority. Sirree the Security Operations, and these are whistleblowers since he has been in there has been a shift to get them to go back and it is important to make sure that we assure our officers because somebody will have to wait a few extra minutes we had the administrator who fully supports that as part of a culture he has established with tsa. That is a very difficult job certainly not the most popular and we appreciate it. . During my many years i have rarely seen employees simultaneously come forward to report what they believe to be the abuses at the same time commending an individual who was in charge of the agency for his efforts to address them so vigorously. I can never remember that in these 20 years. I has been just about every minute of every hearing testified last november that tsa faces a critical turning point and i agree. He cannot turn it around on a dime. I dont think anybody up here could but in the tendency is doing the job is taken bold action to address the challenges he had all directed reassignments and process people thought they were being punished or retaliated against or being moved from place to place to the northeast or the husband said to the southwest and all kinds of mischief i am glad you address that and will talk about that today but that is a large part of the hearing in march issued a memo to review approvals whenever a director is requested he strengthened the achievement awards for the executive Resources Council with the chief operating officer to oversee the assistant head illustrators in charge of the operating divisions. He has worked diligently to address the shortcomings identified by the Inspector General i have a tremendous amount of respect for you mr. Roth. Training all screening personnel including managers and to train nearly screeners. And has testified last november he has deactivated certain Risk Assessment rules that granted expedited screening end of despite all these positive changes the number of screeners has dropped by 6,000 in the past four years and i agree that is something that we all should be concerned about. To get to the bottom line of fire that is happening. And where people have gotten to the point where i at least concluded that they moved into a culture of complacency. Of course, the tsa had to do a job Congress Wants to insure that they handle the resources and i want you to know if you do have the resources including the number of speeders and i look forward to hearing from administrator neffenger for what he has put in motion and with the work he is undertaking to assess to make the tsa a Better Organization if it is a more of question address that mr. Neffenger and let us know what you plan to do about that. I yield back. We will be the record open 45 legislative days. You will now recognize our witnesses. Administrator of tsa and mr. John roth director of Homeland Security. All witnesses will be sworn but please rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear it will be the truth of whole truth and nothing but the truth . Let the record reflect each answered in the affirmative. We like to limit oral testimony at five minutes but the entire statement will be entered into the record. Administrator youre recognized for five minutes. Of distinguished members of the committee think for the opportunity with the manager practices that tsa is a great concern to me as well. Under my leadership tsa has high standards of performance and accountability. I greatly value the oversight and working closely with him over my tenure with three decades of leadership throughout my career i have emphasized professional integrity as foundational elements of service to the dedicated civil servants. Since taking the oath of office i have travelled throughout the country and around the world i have been impressed by that patriotism and sense of duty to perform demanding tasks and i deeply respect and appreciate their work. They have risen to a mission with an oath of office as a condition of employment. Their success as yet most professionals from frontline officers the over arching priority is to secure the nation and Transportation System. We have undertaken and efforts to immediately prioritize the mission to revise the procedures to make investments of new Technology Overhaul of our approach to the workforce of the agency. Reestablished the first tsa academy of january 1st this year to achieve consistency to develop a common culture and in still core values to raise performance across the entire workforce of Mutual Respect to instill confidence and pride. Also ordered a review of personnel policies and practices. Elimination of the arbitration and use restriction on relocation cost were overhauling Management Practices. With the independent read you planning programming the execution process with him in Capital Management system for promotion and assignment in retention. With the Leadership Team my bided new leaders from outside the industry in a new deputy administrator or chief of staff head of intelligence and with respect to the intelligence we just received a very prestigious award for the work they have done with the Aviation System glacier under my leadership for every means that we review management control regularly to fully investigate and adjudicate the conduct and those who violate those standards accountable with respect to leadership could leaders set high standards and inspired to perform at their best i demand much of my leaders i have set high standards for then i expect them to work hard in a supervised closely. You must deliver intelligence capability every day to do so to be fully trained and highly motivated with a common set of values. My Guiding Principles are focused on missions and a commitment to excellence. With his objectives every day as of minister cater we will continue to do so in every mission and location barack operates with every single employee thank you for the opportunity either forward to your questions. We now will recognize the Inspector General groth. Members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify. One year ago i testified on the programs and operations during that time that we remain deeply concerned about the ability to support the mission i know tsa had challenges in almost every area of this operation and at the time i testified their reluctance to correct their vulnerabilities reflected the failure to understand the gravity of the situation in. Six months ago i testified the new administrator i believe had begun the process of critical self evaluation and is in a position to address some of these issues i predicted the new minister raiders most critical in challenging task would be t