Airport employees all over the country aren't undergoing criminal background checks before being hired.
"You can't put ... people you haven't checked in a secured environment," says security expert Brent Brown. "By that very definition, you've breached security."
An internal airport memo obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows the TSA is so far behind in its background checks that it has started allowing employers at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to hire anyone they want.
"This is a joke," says Congressman Paul Broun. When asked whether the TSA should give waivers to some airport employers, he said, "No, they shouldn't be. They're not doing their jobs."
The TSA confirms the directive, stating "at no time was security at risk, and all new employees will still undergo identity verification and be subject to watch list matching."
Employees who later don't pass a background check will be fired.