Airport screeners repeatedly miss bomb parts

WASHINGTON — Undercover investigators carried all the bomb components needed to cause "severe damage" to airliners and passengers through U.S. airport screening checkpoints several times this year, despite measures adopted in August 2006 to stop such explosive devices, according to a new government report.

Agents smuggled aboard a detonator, liquid explosives and liquid incendiary components costing less than $150, even though screening officers in most cases appeared to follow proper procedures and used appropriate screening technology, according to an unclassified version of a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' audit arm.

The report concludes that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) needs to adopt more stringent security measures.

The report provoked criticism of TSA from congressional lawmakers just days before the start of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel week. The House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, which requested the investigation, plans a hearing on the subject today.

"In spite of billions of dollars and the six years TSA has had to deploy new technology and procedures, our airlines remain vulnerable. This is unacceptable," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

TSA Assistant Administrator Ellen Howe played down the GAO's conclusions, saying that in the same three months the GAO conducted 38 tests, the agency conducted 200,000 tests of its operations even as screeners cleared 2 million passengers a day.

She said the agency deploys and continually refines 19 layers of security, including bomb experts, behavior observation teams, personnel trained to review identity documents and new generations of detection equipment.

The covert tests were conducted at TSA checkpoints at 19 airports in March, May and June. The GAO did not identify the airports.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.