Officials at tsa, and employees are scared to report problems, fearing retaliation. One employee says he was instructed by management to racially profile somali americans. A report from the Inspector Generals Office concluded they have a serious staffing problem, losing more than 100 airport screeners every week. This is 2 25. Committee on oversight and government reform comes to order. Without objection, the chair has authorize zed to declare a recess at anytime. We have an important hearing today examining the Management Practices and misconduct at the Transportation Security Administration, the tsa. As we enter the summer travel, Many Americans are headed to the airport. We get a lot of people coming in from overseas who want to travel domestically, but have a lot of americans taking their families or going on business, the whole array, everything you can think about. The numbers are pretty amazing, how many people travel on a daily basis. But often when they get there, theyre finding there are very long lines. We need our airplanes and airports to be as secure as possible. But the practices of securing those airports, i think, continues to be an ongoing question. Because some times, the lines become so difficult and so long. During one week in midmarch, nearly 6800 passengers missed their flights due to long waits at tsa checkpoints. At the charlotte airport, passengers waited more than three hours just to get through security. In many airports. Theyre complaining tsa is only getting worse, not better, and yet there has been a rise in the sheer number of people that were working at the tsa, certainly since its inception. Youre also going to find that the attrition rate is stunning. Theres a reason why. I think its a key indicator as to how the organization is performing and who is being rewarded and not being rewarded and how do people generally feel about the organization. I think people are patient. Theyre willing to wait in line if they feel like the airport is becoming secure, but last summer, the depart of Homeland SecurityInspector General performed covert testing at the security screenings and found, quote, failures in technology, failures in tsa procedures, and human error, end quote. The Inspector General testified before this committee that, quote, layers of security were simply missing, end quote. I understand that some recommendations are still outstanding, although i appreciate the tsa has taken steps to address many of the Inspector Generals findings. Tsa works to improve security and reduce wait times, the staffing problem threatens to undermine its progress. Currently, the agency is losing, think about this, these numbers are pretty stunning. Theyre losing about 103 screeners each week through attrition. Now, thats a little bit of a scary number because i think thats telling us that they really dont like working there. In 2014, this is, again, a very stunning number. 373 people joined. But 4,644 people departed. There are a lot of people looking for good jobs, good opportunities in this country. So when you have 4,600 people leave that job, and there are only able to attract 373, what does that tell you . Tells you theres probably a management problem there. And that theres probably some challenges and underlying things and causes that ought to be examined. The government actually, i think, does a good job in that it surveys federal employees at all the different agencies across all of government. Remember, theres more than 2 million federal employees out there. Of the 328 agencies that are ranked and scored, the tsa ranked 313th. Out of 320. As making it one of the worst places to work. Committee has been contacted by a large number of whistleblower whose have given us some insight as to why it may be. We have also reached out to some individuals. I dont want you to assume the panel here today are simply whistleblowers, in fact, thats not the case. One of the biggest causes that have attributed to tsa challenges is leadership and management. Strong, effective leadership cannot be more important to an agsz fraught with problems. Instead, as we chatted with people and whistleblowers come forward, tsa has a high culture that discourages speaking up about problems. They have raised concerns punishing high level managers. When hard ranking rank and file men and women are severely punished, yet their managers get off easy, it creates a morale problem. It has a highly detrimental effect on the agency, keeping the airways safe. I dont care where you are in life or what you are doing, when you see somebody doing something bad and its not fixed, its demoralizing. When you have maybe a group of people on the line doing one thing and something happens and they get treated differently than the management, its very demoralizing. I think its clearly what we are seeing at the tsa. The hearing is intended to focus on the toll management challenges for tsa employees. The tasks for protecting transportation infrastructure. This brings us to our witnesses here today to discuss their leadership challenges today. Their testimony with the committee is protected. It is against the law to retailuate against them. It doesnt matter if we reach out to them or they reach out to us, they are protected. Communications to the press about waste, fraud and abuse and mismanagement are protected communications. These disclosures offer an effective way to bring it to the attention to those in a position to remedy it. Sometimes it doesnt matter how much is in place, they find subtle ways to marginalize or demean those who speak the uncomfortable truth. I want to be clear, this committee will not stand for reprisal for those cooperating in investigions. Its true for todays witnesses and appreciate the brave stature to come forward and at some risk chat with congress. It is the way we are going to get to the truth and protect the greater whole. I think the gentlemen here today provide valuable insight and hopefully can make the whole of government, the whole of the tsa and its Vital Mission a better place to do it. We thank these gentlemen for stepping forward and participating with us today. With that, i will recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Cummings. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Today, we hear the testimony of three employees from the Transportation Security Administration who led a series of abuses and improper practices within that agency. Whistleblowers are essential to discover waste, fraud and abuse and they are critical to this committees mission. Based on the work conducted by this committee today, federal s statutes protect them. Ensuring federal employee who is come before us are protected from retaliation. Equally important, we, as members of the committee, have an obligation to run the allegations to the ground and determine if we can sub stan chuate them. We want to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, we agree we want to protect federal employees from claims that are not sub stan chated. All three men who stepped forward today, for their willingness to testify and for the information that they provided in their transcribed interview with Committee Staff. They have raised troubling allegations of Personnel Practices within tsa. All three have filed complaints with the office through the equal Employment Opportunity process or in federal court. Each allegation we have heard deserves a thorough and fair investigation. I think these three individuals deserve that, too. Unfortunately, as we hold this hearing today, the committee has not yet had the opportunity to complete such an investigation. In some cases, we have not spoken with those who have firsthand knowledge of the allegations we have heard. We also have not yet heard from tsa regarding most of the allegations raised by these employees. I hope the committee will talk with all of the individuals involved and review all the documents and issues with we discuss today. That is fairness and thoroughness. Many of the allegations our witnesses have raised were initiated under Previous Agency administrators. In some cases, the allegations are resolved under previous administrators and current tsa administrator vice admiral peter has moved to address many of the practices that have been cited by the whistleblowers. One of todays witnesses describe this progress with the committee by saying, and i quote, i think we made tremendous progress with peter. He added, and i quote, since he has come in, i have heard nothing in terms of misconduct, end of quote. Under the administrator, tsa issued new policies and clarified membership in the role of executive Resources Council for the abuse of what he wants, achievement bonuses for the same activities and assure that reassignments are made only to support agency goals. The administrator moved to address the Airport Security lapses identified by the security general and the agencys own testing teams that we examine in this committees hearing on tsa last fall. He has ended the managed inclusion 2 program that permitted those who had not received background risk assessments to receive expedited screening. He has placed agency focus squarely on resolving all alarms at screening check points. As he testified by the Committee Last fall, he is, and i quote, readjusting the measurements of success to focus on security rather than speed, end of quote. I am pleased to see his actions are beginning to show progress. People may not want to hear this, but these actions are likely to slow lines at airports even further. Things may get worse if tsas work force continues to be reduced. He recently testified that tsa has nearly 6,000 fewer transportation Security Officers in its work force than it had four years ago. He is being asked to do more with less and that is a problem. So, i hope that our committee will continue to focus on holding tsa accountable for completing essential reforms that we will, you know, provide him with the resources he needs to do his job. I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses today. I want to thank you all for being with us. With that, i yield back. Well hold the record open for members who would like to submit a written statement. We now wrerecognize our witness. Jay, the office of security operations. Mr. Mark livingston is the Program Manager at the Transportation Security Administration and mr. Andrew rhoades assistant director at the minneapolis st. Paul International Airport in the office of security at tsa. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Please raise and raise your right hand. Rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear or confirm the testimony is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you. You may be seated. Let the report reflect all witnesses answered in the affirmative. To allow time for discussion, we would appreciate if you limit your verbal statements to five minutes. The written statement will be in the record. Mr. Brainard, you are recognized for five minutes. Bring the microphone up close. You can straighten it out, but we want to get you clearly on record. You are now recognized. I am pleased to appear at the request of the committee to discuss issues of the Transportation Security Administration. Our business is serious. The National Strategy of the United States of america is clear. Defending our nation against enemies foreign and domestic is the first fundmental commitment of the government. When it is in danger, it is incumbent on those entrusted to ensure our National Security to come forward and, if necessary, report to you at whatever the cost may be. We are all here today for that purpose. While the new administrator of tsa made security a much needed priority, wunonce again, we are administration in crisis as a result of poor leadership and oversight. Some of which still serve in key positions within the agency today. Our culture went into rapid decline going unchecked by the leader and various agencies and committees responsible for the oversight. For that reason, we have a crisis in leadership and culture. Tsa chose unprepared employees to fill key leadership in vacancies. They were chosen not because they were time tested but because they were liked or good at managing programs or proje s projects. In fact, many leaders, like any security experience never worked in Field Operation their entire career. The result of the survey, each federal agencies response to is graded by its own people, declared we have failed employees year after year. We continue to have a culture problem in tsa brought on by an unwillingness to confront them. It has been the contributing factor of Security Risk and led to poor performance. We have low moral, lack of trust and leaders fearful to speak out, and for good reason. People at all levels of the agency have spent most of their time constantly looking over their shoulder doing the right thing. Let me make one thing clear. This is not a tsa headquarters issue. There are decent people that are just as disgusted and concerned as i am today. This is and has always been a Senior Executive issue. A Senior Executive problem. I refer to those at the very top of the food chain. For years, we had many Senior Executives, most of which who completely lack the experience for their position run amok and make decisions or conduct themselves in an unethical manner and grossly compromise the integrity of our agency. Until change occurs, tsa will remain a culture of leadership. Despite the testing made public, we have some of the same leaders in critical positions whose focus is on numbers and leave security and people last. Many who broke the agency are in key positions today. We empower leaders who obtain compliance because they fill a vacancy. They are not filed because they are leaders. They file out of fear. Bean counting and instilling fear in anyone who opposes them. They are the biggest bullies in government. As a result, many people feel batters, abused and overworked. They convince themselves, they are liked by everyone because no one is left to question them. They have become powerful in their own mind and make decisions. I know several people who went along to get along and regret supporting the agenda of those leaders. In an effort to clean up our agency, tsas former leader instituted an agency wide ethics training complete with a tsa wall of shame for the purpose of exposing bad apples in the agency and shaming them. To our people, in one of the videos every employee is required to see, people are better than this. The wall of shame is Senior Executives and tsa held to a different standard than the rest of the agency. Not one person for the state of our agency is glad to see any of us here today. Those who have spoken up have been and targeted about running a federal service. Complaints were buried and so many cases, so were the complainers. So ig nnif cant while the res of our testing rr made public last may, it was embarrassing. When it came time to address the problem, people who are really to blame, never step forward to accept or acknowledge responsibility. Instead, they set back and watched officers on the front line get publicly shamed. Our officers did not fail. They did exactly what that tsa Senior ExecutiveLeadership Team demanded of them. For years, tsa executive leadership shifts away and increase check point. They raised concern or voiced opinion to leadership were targeted through redirected assignments. A counter part had a conversation with a leader responsible for our problems who indicated to him, they developed a loyalty list and were removing the Security Directors on the list. If you are not familiar, it is a tool used by the Airline Industry to force people into retirement because it is admissible. They targeted specific deputies. The only thing wrong with this is they were asked in business reason. As Security Directors vacancy occurred, many were filled with unqualified personnel. Their loyalty was to those who put them there. Of the 157 original federal Security Directors hired after the 9 11 attacks, five of us are left. When the Veterans Administration spent money, the public was outraged. Tsa spent millions. Looking at the hearing agenda on the committees website, it mentions the most important part of why we are here, the toll management has taken. My Opening Statement scratches the surface. If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. The reality is, our leadership changes when theres a change of administration. If that happens and if these issues continue to go unaddressed, the people who damage the agency will be off the leash and what progress we have made will have been in vain. We need this committee to take a look at the road ahead and ensure it never happens again. I hope i can answer your questions based on my experiences. That concludes my Opening Statement. Thank you. Im very pleased, mr. Chairman, mr. Livingston is a resident of columbia, maryland. This is an area that is shared between my district and the district representing by my distinguished congressman. Mr. Livingson is a constituent and hes written a letter to the committee to express his support for mr. Livingston and urge that the committee investigate. I ask unanimous consent that his letter be included in the record. Mr. Livingston, you are recognized for five min utds. Members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you regarding th