Lawmakers Blast TSA Over 25K Security Breaches

There have been more than 25,000 known security breaches at American airports since the Transportation Security Administration was created in 2001, agency officials told a House committee probing security shortcomings. The breaches include 14,000 people who have found their way into sensitive areas and 6,000 travelers who made it past screeners without proper scrutiny, CNN reports.

The TSA stresses that the breaches represent a tiny fraction of the 5.5 billion passengers it has processed over the last decade, but the Republican overseeing the security hearing called 25,000 a "stunningly high number," CBS News reports. Rep. Jason Chaffetz accused the agency of focusing on creating the appearance of security while not actually making airports more secure. "A lot of what we have been participating in here, in my opinion, has been security theater and has not truly done the job to secure the airports to the degree we need to," he said. (More airport security stories.)