The TSA Has Stopped Retaliating Against Whistleblowers

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has stopped the practice of prosecuting its internal whistleblowers through reassignment, the agency’s head said Thursday.

TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee what he has implemented since taking over last year, and cited improving workplace morale, overhauling senior management and enhancing training for screeners at checkpoints, the Hill reports. His testimony responded to a Homeland Security report last year that showed mismanagement and incompetence throughout the organization.

Last month, TSA workers alleged in a different committee hearing that top officials in the organization would reassign or force out any whistleblowers who called attention to reported “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“I discontinued directed reassignments explicitly,” Neffenger told the panel Thursday. “I don’t tolerate that. It’s illegal, unethical and most of those people doing directed reassignments no longer work at the agency.”

[The Hill]