Hoggan, with an annual salary of some $181,500 a year, received massive bonuses paid in $10,000 monthly installments through November 2014, despite his failure to speed up security lines or stop weapons from being smuggled past screening points.
When TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger was asked, at a May 12 House Oversight Committee hearing, why Hoggan would still receive the bonus, he stated that he does not “think that level of bonus is justified, period.”
Neffenger took over leadership of the agency in July 2015, one month after auditors smuggled fake weapons and explosives past TSA screeners in an eye-watering 96% of attempts.
The TSA came under fire again earlier this month after travelers were met with painfully long lines, including wait times of over two hours at many major US airports. The agency cited federal cuts as being at the root of the problem, suggesting that less money means fewer screeners, the cause of longer wait times.
“You can’t get a hold of a damned person at TSA, even as a member of Congress,” Congressman John Mica said at a hearing earlier this week. “I am so disgusted with this."
Over the past three years, Congress has cut the number of screeners by 10%, or approximately 4,622 people, Newser reports.
On Friday, it was announced by Homeland Security director Jeh Johnson that TSA would increase overtime hours for its employees, as well as hiring 768 new screeners. This number falls far short of the 6,000 requested by the president of the union representing TSA employees.
