Kristi Noem has been accused of not acting on a report from an internal watchdog that found “serious vulnerabilities” in the TSA’s airport screening process. The report, which has “national security implications,” hasn’t gotten a response from her for five months. Even though she told lawmakers earlier that all the recommendations from the inspector general’s report were already handled, CBS News says she didn’t provide proof.
Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote a memo on March 4 that said he hasn’t seen any written or verbal proof that the problems have been fixed.
The issues include concerns about a new rule that lets passengers keep their shoes on during security checks. A memo from internal communications shared with CBS shows that the TSA hasn’t submitted a required response to the audit, even though the report came out five months ago.
Auditors told CBS that basic steps, like making a formal “management decision” about whether the TSA agrees with the report and what actions they will take, haven’t been done yet.
The vulnerabilities were found by the watchdog’s “red team,” which tested TSA’s ability to detect threats by sneaking in fake weapons and explosives.
CBS reports that investigators are wondering if the 2025 policy change that lets passengers keep shoes on during screening may have been too fast for the technology to detect threats hidden in footwear.
The findings were marked as “top secret,” so only a few lawmakers and TSA leadership knew about them. The watchdog asked the TSA to be informed so they could deal with the issues directly, but there was no response.
Cuffari wrote to the TSA that he hasn’t received any information from the Department of Homeland Security or the TSA itself about any actions taken on the report’s recommendations.
He asked for the documents showing any steps taken and supporting evidence.
The Department of Homeland Security, now led by former Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, who was confirmed by his Senate colleagues on Monday, didn’t respond to a request for comment with anything about the “serious vulnerabilities” found by the TSA watchdog.
Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said, “TSA is extremely grateful to the patriotic men and women of ICE who have deployed to airports that are facing a high number of callouts because of the Democrats’ shutdown.
ICE officers are guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, and doing crowd control.”
The news about the vulnerabilities comes at a bad time for DHS and TSA.
Congress hasn’t approved funding for Homeland Security, so TSA agents are working without pay. This has caused a big increase in call-outs by TSA agents, leading to long lines at major U.S. airports.
The CBS report also affects Kristi Noem.
Her time as the head of Homeland Security is now under scrutiny. Trump fired her on March 5, a day after she gave a poor testimony on Capitol Hill. She faced criticism for a $220 million advertising campaign and for claiming she had dealt with the inspector general’s findings.
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