TSA Director Warns ‘Persistent Threat’ Remains in the U.S.

As Pistole prepares to leave the TSA later this month, he expresses concern that the U.S. has been unable to alleviate the nation’s security threats, despite advances made since 9/11 attacks.

Speaking to CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole shared his thoughts on what the agency has accomplished during his tenure, and how he was concerned that the “persistent threat” to the United States continues.

“I think we’ve done everything that we can, based on the intelligence to identify and disrupt potential attackers,” Pistole told CBS. “That being said, there’s no perfect system, and the whole notion of risk-based security is that there’s no 100 percent guarantees.”

Pistole said that terrorists are “innovative in their design and construction” in concealing cargo bombs, which he added were “hard to detect – only through great intelligence were they detected.” He noted terrorists continue to target efforts on U.S. airports because they are so heavily secured that, even if attacks fail, the media exposure is high.

“They — the terrorists — take credit for…disrupting the global supply chain, and economic costs and burden to taxpayers, because of the enhanced security protocols,” he said.

Pistole remarked he has tried to take the TSA from a police security force to an intelligence-based operation that focuses on risk assessment with the primary goal of keeping terrorists off of planes. He added the agency moved from the “one size fits all” security model that was developed after 9/11 to using intelligence and making assessment “that recognize that the vast majority, if not everybody — 1.8 million people that travel every day in the U.S. — are not terrorists.”

[Photo: The White House]