Rep. John Mica: TSA 'Absolutely Not' Ready to Protect US Travelers

The Metrojet crash in Egypt has raised concerns about airport security worldwide — and the U.S. Transportation Security Agency is "absolutely not" prepared to keep Americans safe, Rep. John Mica told Newsmax TV on Thursday.

"This week we had an oversight hearing with the new TSA administrator," said the Florida Republican told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner.

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee met Tuesday with TSA Director Peter Neffenger, Jennifer Grover of the Government Accountability Office, and John Roth, inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I have never seen more scathing reports of the total failure of almost every level of security that was provided to Congress this week," said Mica, who also sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "It's almost frightening — and we don't know what's happened in Egypt, but we do know that TSA is missing the mark."

He slammed the TSA as a "huge bureaucracy" and said the agency needed to move fast "to close the gap."

"We need to redirect some resources immediately to looking at who's at the airport, who's behind the scenes," he told Berliner. "Many of the people there haven't passed proper vetting."

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