For Immediate Release
DHS Press Office
Contact: 202-282-8010
ATLANTA— Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson traveled to Atlanta to view U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operations at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and meet with TSA and airport stakeholders to discuss collective efforts to facilitate travel while ensuring the highest standards of security.
At the airport, Secretary Johnson met with airport stakeholders to discuss and assess potential vulnerabilities related to site security at airports nation-wide behind the sterile area, and announced that DHS has requested the Aviation Security Advisory Committee to conduct an expedient and comprehensive review of the issues related to the security of the sterile areas at airports nationwide in order to identify all viable means for the Department to address any potential vulnerability. Concurrently, TSA is implementing or considering a range of measures including additional requirements for airport and airline employee screening, conducting additional, randomized security countermeasures at employee access points, and introducing additional security patrols by TSA teams of law enforcement and screening professionals to specifically address these concerns.
Secretary Johnson also viewed international arrivals processing operations, as well as the Mobile Passport Control pilot program announced in August, and met with CBP employees. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the United States with over 90 million passengers who travelled through in Fiscal Year 2014.
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