Report: 25,000 Security Breaches at U.S. Airports Since November 2001 (Time.com)

Newly released Department of Homeland Security documents reveal that there have been 25,000 security breaches at U.S. airports since November 2001.

More than 14,000 of those infractions were people entering "limited-access" areas, while another 6,000 incidents included travelers who made it through security checkpoints without being properly screened. Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah, a frequent critic of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), is overseeing a congressional hearing Wednesday on the security shortcomings. "I think it's a stunningly high number," Chaffetz told the Associated Press.

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But Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nicholas Kimball told USA Today that the breaches represent a miniscule fraction (just 1%) of the 5.5 billion air travelers who have used U.S. airports in the past 10 years. He also added that the term "breach" can mean a number of things and that "many of of these instances were thwarted or discovered in the act."

The TSA has been under fire in recent months for several high-profile breaches. The most recent incident occurred when a cleaning employee discovered a stun gun on a JetBlue plane that had landed in Newark, having flown from Boston. In early July, a Nigerian national was found to have flown cross-country using an expired boarding pass in someone else's name. And in June, the TSA concluded a six-month investigation at Honolulu International Airport, recommending that 36 screeners be fired for failing to follow proper security procedures in a recurring shift.

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Frances Romero is a writer-reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @frances_romero. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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Lawmaker: US airports are not secure enough (AP)

WASHINGTON – U.S. airports are still vulnerable to terror attacks, despite billions of dollars invested in security enhancements since 9/11, a Republican congressman said Wednesday.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, led an inquiry into what he described as the Transportation Security Administration's security deficiencies. He cited government statistics of more than 25,000 security breaches at U.S. airports since November 2001 — an average of slightly more than five security breaches a year at each of the 457 commercial airports.

The TSA has said that number is misleading and represents a small fraction of 1 percent of the 5.5. billion people screened since the 2001 terror attacks. A security breach is broadly defined to include instances ranging from a checked bag being misplaced after it went through security screening to a person who was caught in the act of breaching security and immediately apprehended, the TSA said.

Testifying before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, the director of aviation at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, T.J. Orr, said the TSA is compromised by a "rigid attitude of arrogance and bureaucracy." Orr was critical of the lengthy amount of time it takes to get the TSA to engage on something like a security assessment of the airport.

Among the breaches since November 2001 are more than 14,000 people who have found their way into sensitive areas and about 6,000 travelers who have made it past government screeners without proper scrutiny, Chaffetz said.

The congressional interest comes amid the busy summer travel season and growing criticism of some of the TSA's screening policies, like security pat-downs for children and travelers in their 90s. The TSA has defended its policies, citing terrorists' persistent interest in attacking commercial aviation.

For instance, earlier this month, counterterrorism officials saw intelligence about some terrorists' renewed interest in surgically implanting bombs in humans to evade airport security like full-body imaging machines. The TSA and FBI are even testing this theory on pigs' carcasses to see how viable the threat is, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

Since the 2001 attacks, the airport screening work force has been entirely revamped and billions of dollars spent on technology that's been deployed across the country. But despite all the enhancements, there have been lapses. Most recently, a cellphone-size stun gun was found aboard a plane operated by JetBlue Airways Corp. Officials do not believe the stun gun was intended for use in some type of attack, but the FBI is investigating how and why it was on the airplane.

Earlier this month, a Nigerian American was accused of breaching three layers of airport security while getting on a cross-country flight with an expired boarding pass. And last year, a teenager was found dead in Massachusetts after he sneaked onto an airplane in Charlotte and stowed away in the wheel of the jet.

Orr, the Charlotte airport's aviation director, was critical of the TSA's handling of the investigation into how the teenager was able to sneak onto the Boston-bound flight and said officials couldn't "prove or disprove" that there was a security breach.

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Associated Press writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

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