Details of two studies documenting how lax and faulty screening practices by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are leaving the door open for terrorists and other dangerous foreign nationals to enter the U.S. have been completely redacted from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general’s (IG) report released to the public.
Last month, on September 30, the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report titled:
“CBP, ICE, and TSA Did Not Fully Assess Risks Associated with Releasing Noncitizens without Identification into the United States and Allowing Them to Travel on Domestic Flights (REDACTED)”
“TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights,” the publicly available version of the IG’s analysis concludes, while also criticizing the methods of U.S. Customs and Border Security (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):
“Because of CBP’s and ICE’s process for inspecting and releasing noncitizens, TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights.
REDACTED TEXT
“According to the TSA Administrator, TSA relies on CBP and ICE officers to collect biographical and biometric information on noncitizens and conduct the requisite background checks to determine if the individual poses a threat to the United States.”
The inspector general’s report cites two studies exposing how TSA’s policies and practices are endangering the public, one from June 2021 and a follow-up dated July 5, 2024.
The findings of both studies are completely redacted:
“TSA’s Requirements and Capabilities Analysis office previously conducted an assessment that emphasized the risk of noncitizens whose identity cannot be confirmed. Specifically, in a June 2021 analysis of the risks associated with using CBP OneTM as a screening tool, TSA’s Operational Risk and Case Studies group, within the Requirements and Capabilities Analysis office, concluded that:” FINDINGS COMPLETELY REDACTED (Four Paragraphs)
“Additionally, TSA provided us with an updated CBP OneTM risk assessment marked ‘pre-decisional,’ dated July 5, 2024. This document is signed and final according to TSA.” NEXT PARAGRAPH REDACTED
Likewise, the “Conclusion” of the September 30 OIG report is also heavily redacted – including both the opening and the text explaining an ominous “However”:
REDACTED “CBP, ICE, and TSA have developed and implemented policies and procedures to screen noncitizens. However, their efforts REDACTED.”
“If CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens — whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm — to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks,” the conclusion warns, citing the practices relied upon by the TSA.
“OIG’s draft report accurately identified concerns of Operational Risk raised in a July 5, 2024, risk analysis,” DHS conceded in its response to the inspector general’s findings.
While the report redacts the findings of the threats uncovered by the previous studies, it does provide hints of what may be in them by providing two examples of “similar weaknesses” it previously documented, which had allowed potential national security threats to slip into the U.S.:
“In recent reports, we documented similar weaknesses in CBP’s screening processes that allowed high-risk individuals into the country.
“For example, one noncitizen released into the United States in 2022 was later found to appear on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Watchlist.
“We also identified at least two persons paroled into the United States as part of Operation Allies Refuge/Operation Allies Welcome that may have posed a threat to national security and the safety of local communities.”