CBS News: TSA Replaces Top Official In Charge Of Airport Security
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Transportation Security Administration has replaced a top official in charge of airport security, CBS News reports.
CBS News obtained an internal TSA memo announcing that Kelly Hoggan, who had been the assistant administrator for the security operations department since 2013, was replaced and that a new leadership team was put in place at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport following last week's line meltdown.
"It was time for a change," a senior TSA official told CBS News about replacing Hoggan.
Hoggan's biography on the TSA website said he "manages the daily field operations for a workforce of more than 50,000 employees at approximately 440 airports nationwide. He is also responsible for regulatory compliance, budget and financial requirements, program planning and collaborating with security operators across multiple modes of transportation."
"Darby LaJoye will serve as the Acting Assistant Administrator of the Office of Security Operations," TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger wrote in the memo addressed to TSA senior leaders. "Darby LaJoye is an experienced Federal Security Director with successful leadership tours at two of the nation's largest airports, Los Angeles International Airport in California and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York."
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Hoggan received more than $90,000 in bonuses over a period from late 2013 to late 2014.
About a year later, a report from the Homeland Security Inspector General's office revealed that agency employees failed to find explosives, weapons and other dangerous items in more than 95 percent of covert tests at multiple U.S. airports.
That report and allegations of other mismanagement within TSA have drawn congressional scrutiny and promoted multiple hearings on Capitol Hill.
Hoggan's ouster also comes amid growing concerns of massive security lines at airports this summer. The long lines have been blamed in part on more travelers during the busy summer travel season and a shortage of screening officers manning checkpoints.
Neffenger has also attributed some security line woes to fewer people than anticipated applying for the government's PreCheck program, which allows passengers to move through security faster after submitting to a background check.
In recent weeks there have been reports of thousands of people missing flights because of the lengthy wait times. Problems have been reported in Chicago and Neffenger last week was in the city meeting with local officials to discuss the problems.
In his memo Monday, Neffenger said, "At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, a new leadership team is now overseeing screening operations."
He said that and other adjustments, including the LaJoye appointment, "will enable more focused leadership and screening operations at critical airports in the national transportation system."
The TSA did not say where Hoggan has been reassigned.
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