[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10231-10232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         NEFFENGER CONFIRMATION

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday I missed Senate rollcall vote No. 
217, the nomination of Peter V. Neffenger, of Ohio, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security, because of flight delay issues due to 
weather. Had I been here, I would have voted in favor of this 
nomination.
  I support the Senate's confirmation last night of Coast Guard VADM 
Peter V. Neffenger who was confirmed to be the next Administrator of 
the Transportation Security Administration, TSA.
  The TSA has been without Senate-confirmed leadership for too long. 
John Pistole, the previous TSA Administrator, announced on October 16, 
2014, that he would be resigning in December. Since the end of 2014, 
the TSA Administrator position has been vacant. In January, I along 
with Ranking Member Nelson, and Senators Ayotte, Cantwell, and Fischer, 
called on President Obama to send us a qualified, experienced, and 
dedicated individual to serve as TSA Administrator. Unfortunately, 
President Obama did not nominate Admiral Neffenger until April 28, 
2015, over 6 months after John Pistole informed the administration that 
he would be leaving. I was disappointed at the length of time it took 
for the President to send us a qualified nominee. Even the New York 
Times editorial page, normally quite deferential to the President, 
expressed the opinion that ``the Obama Administration has been 
disturbingly slow to give the TSA strong leadership at the top.''
  By comparison, the Senate has very rapidly moved the Neffenger 
nomination, despite two separate committees being involved with his 
formal vetting. Since the TSA was transferred to the Department of 
Homeland Security, the Senate has abided by an understanding that TSA 
Administrator nominees would be vetted by the Commerce Committee, which 
has primary jurisdiction over TSA, and also by the Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Department of 
Homeland Security where TSA is organizationally housed. Some could say 
that this protocol could lend itself to unnecessary delay. However, 
Admiral Neffenger received three votes in less than 3 weeks, first by 
the Commerce Committee on June 4, 2015, the second one on June 15, 
2015, by the Homeland Security Committee, and last night when he was 
confirmed by a vote of 81 to 1. So the Senate has moved swiftly to 
confirm this important nomination, in comparison to the time the Obama 
administration has taken to send the Senate a qualified nominee.
  While I am disappointed at the length of time it took for the 
President to send the Senate a qualified nominee, I applaud the 
President's selection of Admiral Neffenger to be the next TSA 
Administrator. Admiral Neffenger has served ably and well for 34 years 
in the U.S. Coast Guard, rising through the ranks to become the Vice 
Commandant when the Senate confirmed him last year for that 
distinguished position.
  During an assignment to Mobile, AL, he helped to lead the multi-
agency response to the 1993 Amtrak Sunset Limited train derailment into 
a remote waterway in the Mobile River Delta, which killed 47 people. 
Admiral Neffenger also has substantial experience serving right here in 
the Senate, having been a Coast Guard fellow and detailee for 3 years 
at the Senate Appropriations Committee.
  Admiral Neffenger also served as Deputy National Incident Commander 
for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In that role, Admiral Neffenger 
coordinated and led over 50,000 people from Federal, State, and local 
agencies, tribal representatives, non-governmental organizations, and 
the private sector throughout five Gulf Coast States in the clean-up 
and response effort. Clearly, Admiral Neffenger has the requisite 
background and experience to lead reforms at the TSA.
  Admiral Neffenger has proven himself as a leader, and the TSA is an 
agency in dire need of strong, capable leadership. In May, the 
Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General testified in the 
House of Representatives that, ``[u]nfortunately, although nearly 14 
years have passed since TSA's inception, we remain deeply concerned 
about its ability to execute its important mission.'' Then, earlier 
this month, news broke that undercover investigators from the Inspector 
General's office had penetrated TSA security checkpoints while carrying 
illegal weapons or simulated bombs on 67 of 70 attempts. In other 
words, TSA failed 95 percent of the time to prevent illegal weapons or 
simulated bombs from being smuggled through TSA security checkpoints. 
This is unacceptable, and it is clear that the Inspector General is 
right to be concerned about TSA's ability to execute its important 
mission in a rapidly changing threat environment.
  TSA has also experienced a number of other troubling failures about 
which I have written to the agency. I have been concerned about the 
TSA's oversight of Secure Identification Display Area, SIDA, badges at 
the Nation's airports. In December 2014, it was revealed that a Delta 
ramp agent in Atlanta allegedly used his SIDA badge to bypass TSA 
security and facilitate an interstate gun smuggling operation via 
commercial aircraft. TSA's response to my letter of inquiry about its 
oversight of SIDA badges stated that TSA does not issue or manage SIDA 
badges and that this responsibility falls to airport operators--which 
raised even more concerns about TSA's awareness about lost SIDA badges 
at our Nation's airports.
  Another issue I have raised with TSA relates to the potential 
security gaps in its PreCheck initiative raised in reports by the 
inspector general. On January 28, 2015, the inspector general released 
an unclassified summary of a classified report concluding that PreCheck 
is a positive step towards risk-based security screening as a concept, 
but that TSA needs to modify its

[[Page 10232]]

PreCheck vetting and screening processes and improve its PreCheck 
communication and coordination. The Department of Homeland Security 
Office of the Inspector General report also stated that, ``TSA did not 
concur with all recommendations and all recommendations remain open.''
  In response to the conclusions and recommendations, I wrote to TSA 
along with Ranking Member Nelson on March 25, 2015, asking a series of 
questions about potential security gaps in TSA PreCheck. TSA responded 
to this letter on April 14, 2015, but the issue of potential security 
gaps in PreCheck and other expedited screening initiatives must still 
be addressed as TSA seeks to continue these initiatives, let alone 
expand them.
  Admiral Neffenger's proven leadership throughout the course of his 
service in the U.S. Coast Guard will undoubtedly afford valuable 
perspective in his role as TSA Administrator. Admiral Neffenger 
understands the need for TSA to continuously evolve to meet the 
challenges presented by an ever-changing threat environment. Obviously, 
the TSA is an agency that needs a strong leader who will bring cultural 
change to the agency. I am hopeful that Admiral Neffenger can be a 
leader who can fundamentally reform the TSA. He has a heavy burden, but 
I believe he is capable of shouldering that burden and I pledge to work 
with him and my colleagues here in the Senate to see that those changes 
occur.

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