LAX Screener Says TSA Agents Are Scapegoats For Long Lines

LAX (CBSLA.com) — More than 2.5 million Americans were expected to fly this Memorial Day weekend. That meant airports across the United States were bracing for longer lines at a time when the Transportation Security Administration is short of screeners.

Victor Payes is a TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport. He said screeners have become convenient scapegoats for the long lines, and passenger frustration is taking its toll on the agents.

"Over the last 4 or 5 years, our staffing has gone down. We're getting more passengers. Airlines are booking more flights," Payes said.

The TSA agent said LAX is not as bad as airports in Chicago. But it could get worse. Bottom line, agents are focused on security first.

"We want people to get through as quickly as possible. But we're not going to compromise security because not knowing with what's going with, let's say, Egypt Air," he added.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told CBS News, the agency is working on adding more than 760 new TSA staffers by mid June.

But the TSA union said that number should be in the thousands.

"There certainly is some passengers who vent their frustrations at us - especially right now there's a campaign by the airlines - to kind of put the blame on TSA for the wait. Right now, we're managing but we don't want to get to the point where it might boil over."

Between June and August, some 231 million travelers are expected to travel by air. That is 95,000 a day more this year than last year.