TSA Asks Head of Security to Turn in His Badge and Glove
Following accusations of departmental mismanagement, Kelly Hoggan, the Transportation Security Administration’s head of security, was removed from his position on Monday, CNN reports.
UPDATE: Kelly Hoggan has been removed from his position as head of security at TSA, following our hearing on May 12 on mismanagement at TSA.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 23, 2016
Earlier this month, Hoggan became the target of an ongoing congressional inquiry after the House Oversight Committee learned he received $90,000 in bonuses while airport security failed to improve.
According to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger, Hoggan will be reassigned to “new duties” while Darby LaJoye takes over his role. From NBC News:
The appointment is part of a series of moves, some of them not revealed until Monday, that Neffenger has taken since hundreds of passengers were stranded in security lines as their planes took off at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport this month.
Neffenger and his boss, Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, promised that more than 300 extra TSA officers would be assigned to Chicago’s airports by mid-August — 58 of them within the next three weeks — and that 100 more part-time workers in Chicago would be promoted to full time.
In addition to replacing Hoggan and hiring more officers, Neffenger announced the creation of a National Incident Command Center to better allocate department resources on the fly.
“These adjustments will enable more focused leadership and screening operations at critical airports,” wrote Neffenger. Given how well the TSA currently operates, it might even be true.