An investigation by a west coast news outlet reports hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers have failed drugs and alcohol tests in recent years.
KGW Portland reports 858 TSA workers tested positive for drugs or alcohol from 2010 through 2016, after gaining access to records through a Freedom of Information Act request.
It says some of the highest failure rates were at the nation’s busiest airports.
It found 51 agents working at Los Angeles Airport failed tests, as did 40 at New York’s JFK Airport.
Boston Logan International Airport recorded 35 failed tests.
The TSA conducts random drug and alcohol tests on a regular basis and if it has reasonable suspicion a worker is under the influence.
TSA officers who fail a test are fired, TSA spokesman Nico Melendez told KGW.
It randomly tested 17,649 workers last year.
Of those, 97 or 0.55% tested positive.
