Surprise! TSA Cooked Books to Make Private Screeners Look to Expensive

TSA has denied the last five airport applications for private security screeners. One of the reason is allegedly cost. Now, it has been revealed that TSA cooked the books to make private screeners look more expensive. Why are we not shocked?

(Washington Times)- Federal auditors found the agency erred in its cost comparisons, and a skeptical lawmaker said TSA did so to stop the use of private contractors to do screening — an option Congress wrote into the 2001 law that created the agency.

Sixteen airports throughout the country use private screeners under the Security Partnership Program (SPP), but TSA has barred other airports from joining the program.

In a letter to Congress released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said TSA’s new estimates show that private screeners are just 3 percent more expensive than federal workers - not 17 percent, as the agency previously had stated.

Auditors said that earlier TSA estimates had not accounted for the costs of workers compensation, liability insurance, retirement benefits and administrative overhead involved in using federal employees