Airport Security Throws Lavish, Taxpayer-Funded Party
Airport Security Throws Lavish, Taxpayer-Funded Party
POSTED: 7:55 am EDT October 14, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Three balloon arches: $1,486.
Seven cakes: $1,850.
One party planner: $85,552.
That's what a government anti-terrorism agency spent last year for an awards ceremony at a lavish Washington hotel, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press. The total cost came close to a half-million dollars.
Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a "lifetime achievement award" for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.
AP exclusive: Report faults TSA spending
Airport security agency cited for lavish banquet, bonusesThe Associated Press
Updated: 9:30 p.m. ET Oct. 13, 2004WASHINGTON - The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an “unnecessarily expensive” awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
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Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a “lifetime achievement award” for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.
The investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, also found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency, and failed to provide adequate justification in more than a third of the 88 cases examined.
The report said lower-level employees were shortchanged, with a far lower percentage receiving bonuses.
“A substantial inequity exists in TSA’s performance recognition program between executive and non-executive employees,” the report said.
Agency justifies expenses
TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said the agency believes the bonuses and party were justified “given the hours and productivity of the work force during this critical period.”
This year, said von Walter, the TSA will conduct awards ceremonies at individual airports, as well as a much smaller and less expensive event at its headquarters in November.
Congressional skeptics have criticized the TSA’s hiring and spending practices during its short existence. Republicans say the agency has grown far larger than they envisioned when it was created following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Ervin also is investigating why the agency’s private recruiters worked out of lush resort hotels with golf courses, pools and spas.
The awards banquet, which cost $461,745, was held at the Grand Hyatt, which bills itself as “one of the most magnificent” hotels in the nation’s capital. According to the report, the agency chose that site because it was the only hotel available on Nov. 19, 2003, the agency’s second anniversary. It also was one of the few places that could accommodate about 600 honorees and as many guests.
While the inspector general noted the agency sought competitive bids for the party planner and chose the company with the lowest estimate, it found the “costs of the ceremony and reception were higher than necessary.”
Finger food: $33 per person
The event planning company, MarCom Group Inc. of Fairfax, Va., was paid $85,552 for its work and given an additional $81,767 for plaques, $5,196 for official photographs, $1,486 for three balloon arches and $1,509 for signs.
The reception included finger food, coffee and cake that averaged $33 per person. Seven cakes cost a total of $1,850; three cheese displays, $1,500.
In a written response, the TSA said the costs “were neither extraordinary nor incurred without careful consideration of the amount, the reasonableness of the cost, and value the activities would have to the employees.”
The inspector general also expressed concern that the TSA was more generous than most other federal agencies in awarding bonuses to executives. Federal agencies on average gave cash awards to 49 percent of their executives in 2002, while 76 percent of TSA executives received them in 2003.
‘Boilerplate justifications’
The inspector general reviewed 88 employees’ files and found that 38 percent “had no individual recommendation and justification for the performance award.”
“The legitimacy of such large awards is called into question by the lack of an appropriate selection process and the reliance on boilerplate justifications that could be applicable to anyone,” the report said.
The report also noted that fewer than 3 percent of nonexecutive employees received bonuses in 2003.
In its response, the TSA said that executives who got a bonus didn’t get a pay increase and weren’t eligible for a presidential awards program that can amount to as much as 35 percent of their base pay. The agency agreed, however, that more could be done to equalize treatment of top executives and lower-level employees.
When I worked Airport Screener duty in the late 80's/early 90's, we were hired by a private security company for minimum wage - $4.25/hour at the time. When the Supervisor of the airport security quit, they asked me if I wanted the job. Many more hours, lots more headaches, but only another 40 cents an hour! No thanks! Shortly after, I quit too.
The TSA elite sounds like a partying bunch of folks . . .
That half-mil could have paid better salaries to the worker bees on the line.
Reduce the size and scope of goverment. TSA should be one of the first 12 agencies to be dissolved. Absolutely insane, and what insentive is there for these f**ks to not spend OUR money the way they see fit. Whose gonna stop them? This is a very fine example of a tyranical and un-constitutional agency going out of control. We should scrape these nazi's as soon as possible.
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They should have stopped at "Congress shall make no law"
i say make it legal for passengers to carry concealed weapons! the terrorsist wont know who would or would not be carrying on any given flight! just have a rule that it must not be seen.
You've got to be careful with firearms on planes, because if the hull is breached it can cause explosive depressurization, which can kill everyone on board.
I reccomend just passing batons out to every passenger. Any would-be terrorist would face a serious beatdown.
Also, one guy I know carries a baseball every time he flies. It always gets through security and if something happens, a fist full of baseball can cause some serious damage.
i saw on "mythbusters" they tried to make a plane have an explosive decompression and gun shots didnt work. the only way their experiment worked and decompression was achieved was to use explosives. it was a 100gr shape charge they used. the gun shots did cause decompression but it was not explosive,and the airframe was not damaged enough to cause the plane to crash.
Rapid decompression ain't fun - ask anyone in the military who's gone thru the training. Whew . . . ten guys in the chamber - all farting uncontrollably. Brings tears to your eyes.
Yeah, bullet holes wouldn't destroy the aircraft, just cause some serious leaks. Much more serious is if the pilots or critical equipment takes a hit!
As usual, the main problem with the TSA is the attitude of the chiefs, not the indians on the line. Believe me, that guy or gal who's been on their feet for six or eight hours doesn't want to hold you up - they want to get you thru and gone! The airport manager and TSA upper classmen set the odious policies.
Old Navy is exactly right about the turn-over. Most of us were either moon-lighting State workers (I was!) and some college students trying to get some extra money. The college kids came and went quick, finding better-paying and more rewarding jobs. Heck, there's far easier ways to make minimum wage!
I was trying to use this job as a stepping stone into a better security position - never happened, and I tired of the rat-race.
I figured early on that the Federal employment would be better for the employees of the TSA, and I think overall it is. It ain't their fault they have bosses with fecal matter in their brainpans.
As stated, if you don't like the system, drive or take a bus. It isn't that hard to follow the rules and minimise the delay. Make a real effort to divest yourself of as much metal as possible. Leave the 10 inch Rodeo belt buckle home. Wear your tennyrunners, instead of your steel-toe workboots.
Work with the system, and it'll work with you.
