TSA Administrator David Pekoske holds a national virtual town hall in Dallas with TSA employees. (Photo: Courtesy TSA)
DALLAS - Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator David Pekoske was in Dallas today to meet with the local TSA workforce and hosted a town hall meeting broadcast to agency employees nationwide.
“The TSA checkpoint today looks quite different from the pre-pandemic checkpoint, and that is a credit to everyone for making the TSA security screening experience safer for fellow employees and passengers,” Pekoske said. “Dallas is among the top locations showing an increase in passenger volumes at TSA checkpoints.”
Pekoske joined Kriste Jordan-Smith, TSA’s Federal Security Director at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Byron Irby, Federal Air Marshal Special Agent in Charge, and Amy Williams, Federal Security Director at Dallas Love Field, to visit with employees at the TSA checkpoint operations at the two Dallas airports. He noted the recently-installed acrylic barriers in areas where TSA officers typically interact with passengers, including the travel document checker podium and the divesting area where travelers prepare their carry-on property for x-ray screening. These clear barriers, and the face masks worn by all TSA officers, are a clear visual reminder of the changes TSA made in the security checkpoint to reduce exposure among travelers and employees.
After the airport tours, Pekoske held a town hall and mentioned that DFW is among eight sunbelt airports with the highest rates of recovery since the beginning of the pandemic, based on consistent passenger volume. He also noted that TSA had screened more than 1 million travelers in a single day on October 18 for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March.
Before departing, he thanked employees for their continued focus on security and commitment to the TSA mission, and charged them to continue protecting themselves both on and off duty.
During his visit in Dallas, Pekoske also met with executives at DFW airport, Amazon, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.