Say, wouldn’t it be ironic if an agency of the federal government wasted hundreds of millions of dollars? Er … no, not really. It’s what federal agencies do, isn’t it? Well, then, what if this agency was responsible for security and enforced transparency on millions of Americans every day, but then got caught obstructing justice to cover up its waste? I’m not sure that‘s terribly surprising either, but for the record … here’s your TSA and tax dollars not at work:
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The Transportation Security Administration has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars by buying equipment it doesn’t need and storing it in a North Texas warehouse, according to a congressional report released Wednesday.
The blistering report also accuses the airport security agency of trying to cover up the misspending by misleading investigators. …
The report faults TSA administrators for buying unneeded equipment in bulk — including machines used to detect trace explosives — in order to receive a discount “under an incorrect and baseless assumption that demand would increase.”
The agency “willfully delayed Congressional oversight” in “a failed attempt to hide the disposal of approximately 1,300 pieces of screening equipment from its warehouses in Dallas, Texas, prior to the arrival of Congressional staff,” the report said.
While the report said the warehouse was in Dallas, it is actually located not far from DFW Airport in Grapevine.
TSA also gave investigators a list of equipment that “falsely identified disposal dates and directly contradicted the inventory,” according to the report.
I’m certainly angered over the obstruction of the investigation and the wasteful spending, and heads should be rolling at TSA. But I’m more angered about the obstruction of the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious and the hundreds of people killed, including at least one Border Patrol agent, as a direct result of the Department of Justice’s actions. The House Oversight Committee is heading both probes, and it’s beginning to put together a pattern of obfuscation, cover-up, and outright lying in the executive branch.
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