5 Homeland Security Priorities to Enhance Safety and Keep the Lines Moving

Lines are getting ever longer at airports as the Transportation Security Administration struggles with staffing shortfalls and not-popular-enough programs meant to ease long waits. The Department of Homeland Security knows that travelers are frustrated. And a representative told a gathering of travel and tourism professionals Thursday that the department is trying to boost security measures while being an ally to the industry. "The enhancement of the security of the public can coexist with the advancement and the facilitation of travel and tourism," said Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of Homeland Security. "There is a misconception that those two are mutually exclusive. The ability to advance both imperatives does present challenges." Speaking at the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Dallas, Mayorkas acknowledged that the department was focused on "plugging some vulnerabilities that we observed within the department in the screening of passengers" last year. A DHS Inspector General's report last year found that the TSA failed to detect threats posed in 67 of 70 securi