Transportation Security Administration chief David Pekoske is confident a short staffed TSA workforce will be able to handle a surge of travelers for the July 4 holiday weekend.
The agency expects to screen about 12.1 million travelers between Wednesday and Sunday for the July 4 holiday period.
Despite hundreds fewer screeners who have been sent to support efforts at the Mexican border, Pekoske doesn’t expect significant longer waits at airports.
He told the AP there may only be a slight increase in wait times.
Sunday will be the busiest day as travelers fly home after the holiday.
"This is a temporary measure. We don’t anticipate this would be a long-term measure," he said, adding that the agency can handle operations at current staffing levels ‘for the next several months.’
About 350 TSA employees including federal air marshals who normally work at airports, have already been shifted to the border and that is expected to soon rise to 650.
However this only represents a small fraction of the 50,000 TSA screeners deployed at airports nationwide.
A bigger issue is the loss of about 20% of its workforce annually, adding significantly to hiring costs.
Pekoske puts that down to comparatively low pay rates in some cities with a high cost of living.
To combat this, the agency has started offering retention bonuses.
