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Washington, D.C.—In response to widespread reports of a seriously-flawed system for testing screening skills of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley has called on the TSA administrator to suspend the annual test and invalidate the test results.

In a letter sent recently to TSA’s Acting Administrator Gail D. Rossides, the NTEU leader also urges TSA to immediately correct the numerous flaws in the Practical Skills Exercise (PSE), many of which are detailed in responses to an online NTEU survey posted last week.

TSA Officers (TSOs) surveyed questioned the objectivity of current testing protocol, with more than 75 percent of respondents rating the test as “Unfair” or “Very Unfair.” Other problems cited include insufficient training of those administering tests; unfair testing methods; an inability to verify or question test results; and a lack of meaningful remediation.

“These testing problems are so serious and so prevalent that they undermine the Agency’s credibility with employees,” President Kelley wrote. "NTEU believes that the current round of PSE tests should be suspended. All negative impacts associated with failure of these flawed tests should be eradicated.”

Anecdotal reports from TSOs surveyed placed failure rates at several airports between 75 and 90 percent, with TSOs citing everything from test administration, to insufficient training opportunities, to poor communication by TSA management. “The main problem is that our testing is not recorded in any way,” said an unidentified New York TSO. “If there is a disagreement with a (PSE) grade, it is impossible to argue it.”

President Kelley said that the test results do not reflect the overall knowledge, expertise and screening skills of the TSA workforce.

“These dedicated and professional homeland security employees, our nation’s first line of defense at airports across the country, are committed to their mission of protecting our nation’s skies,” she said. “They want to do the best possible job and deserve a test that is administered fairly and credibly and that accurately reflects their airport security knowledge, as well as their overall job performance.”

Kelley questioned the appropriateness of TSA’s decision to contract out its human resource functions to a private company, noting that it enhances the lack of trust between TSA management and employees about ongoing personnel issues. Last year, TSA entered into a $1.2 billion contract with the Lockheed Martin Corporation to have the company perform the agency’s human resource activities over the next eight years; a move President Kelley has called “another step down the wrong path by a troubled agency.”

Since its inception in 2001, TSA has been plagued by high turnover and low morale, stemming in large part from an unfair pay system seen as subjective and a workplace where employee voices are not heard on performance issues such as training and certification testing.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including thousands of TSOs nationwide, as well as the entire 24,000-employee U.S. Customs and Border Protection workforce at the nation’s 327 land, air and sea ports of entry.