The investigators: 'premium pay' at the TSA.

• Author: Tuccille, J.D.
• Position: Citings - Transportation Security Administration - Brief article

We don't need the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) sending its criminal investigators out on expensive, poorly conceived tasks that other people could have done at lower cost. And we don't expect the agency tasked with providing transportation security to lack a good means for assessing whether it's doing its job. But that is exactly what has been happening, according to a September report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.

The TSA's Office of Inspections (OOI) is largely staffed by well-paid criminal investigators, who are tasked with detecting vulnerabilities in security systems and conducting internal inspections. According to the Inspector General's report, the OOI uses criminal investigators receiving "premium pay" to perform duties that could have been performed by other employees at lower cost.

The criminal...