US undercover agents able to smuggle weapons through airport checkpoints: Report

Undercover agents in the United States have smuggled mock explosives and weapons through US airport checkpoints, according to a new report.

The report published by ABC News shows that the agents managed to smuggle the weapons through 95 percent of the American airport checkpoints.

Airport screeners, who are employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), failed to detect banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airports.

An undercover agent was stopped right after he set off an alarm at a checkpoint in one test. TSA screeners then patted him down, but could not find a fake explosive device, which was taped to his back.

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday that he will take the findings “very seriously.”

“The numbers in these reports never look good out of context, but they are a critical element in the continual evolution of our aviation security,” Johnson said.

He had asked the TSA to revise airport security procedures, urging them to retrain officers and retest screening equipment in all airports across the US.

He also reassigned the acting administrator for the TSA after the report was released.

According to Johnson, the agency screened a high number of plane passengers and managed to seize a record number of banned items over the last year.