The Associated Press reports on Tuesday that two government agencies in charge of keeping potential terrorist off airplanes and out of the country have remained leaderless for over a year.
According to the AP, no one has been appointed to lead the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) or the Custom and Border Protection Agency (CBP).
“It took the Obama administration more than eight months to nominate anyone to lead the Transportation Security Administration and the Customs and Border Protection agency,” the AP reports.
But democrats are blaming Senate Republicans for the delay.
South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint has placed a hold on President Obama’s choice to head the TSA over the senator's concern that the new leader would let that agency screeners join a labor union.
"It's very simple. Giving union bosses control over security at our nation's airports is dangerous and will harm our ability to respond to serious threats," Senator DeMint have said.
Speaking to a group of reporters on Monday, Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff for the National Security Council, said the president was looking for answers into this.
“The President is eager to have his TSA head on the job,” McDonough said.
The questioning comes days after alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, attempted to blow Northwest’s flight 253 bound to Detroit despite being in the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list.
