TSA head of security removed from post
Several changes are taking place within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), following outrage over long security lines earlier this month at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
In an internal memo obtained by NBC News, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger said Kelly Hoggan, the agency's assistant administrator for security operations, has been replaced by Darby LaJoye, the deputy assistant TSA administrator and one-time top security official at Los Angeles International Airport and New York City's JFK Airport. Hoggan has been reassigned to other duties, the memo said. Previously, he was the focus of congressional inquiries into bonuses he received.
The TSA has also created the National Incident Command Center at TSA headquarters, which will track daily screening operations and will be able to shift officers to different airports depending on passenger volume. After the O'Hare debacle, which left hundreds of people stuck in security lines as their planes departed, Neffenger and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced that 300 additional TSA officers will be assigned to Chicago airports by mid-August, and more than 100 officers in Chicago currently working part-time will become full-time.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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