airport line
© www.cnn.com...two hours later, a couple rows over, they really won't be smiling...
Bomb blasts in Brussels two weeks ago have caused U.S. security officials to do a reassessment back home, meaning summer travelers will likely see a bigger police presence and more random searches before flying this year. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told reporters Friday that the agency has significantly stepped up its visible presence after the Brussels blasts, just one effort to deter would-be copy cats from targeting U.S. airports and train stations. "Visibility is a deterrent factor and it's a disruptive factor too," he said.

Neffenger happened to be on a plane pulling up to a gate at the Brussels airport right as the bombs went off. The TSA chief was safe but had to sit on the plane for more than two hours while officials processed the chaos and tragedy inside the building.

For U.S. passengers, security in the aftermath of the attacks doesn't just mean more officers patrolling baggage claim. It will also mean more random bag checks, particularly for bigger luggage, and additional inspections of cars and taxis coming into the airport. Combine the random checks with what's expected to be longer security lines, and passengers could be staring down a frustrating summer travel experience.

"This is one of the busiest or highest volume travel years we've ever seen," Neffenger said, adding that travel has increased about 8 percent on average over last year. "I care about lines, it's not that I don't ... [but] we have to do our jobs. We learned that last year," he added, referencing a series of security failures that embarrassed the agency.


Comment: Undercover officers were able to carry mock explosives and weapons through security checkpoints undetected 67 out of 70 times. This revelation, and other infractions, supposedly caused the overhaul of TSA.


But even with more security patrols, bomb-sniffing dogs and bag checks, Neffenger wouldn't say for certain that a Brussels-like attack couldn't happen in the U.S. The Brussels terrorists picked nonsecure areas of the city's airport and metro system to set off bombs that killed at least 32 people and injured hundreds of others. And though TSA's main responsibility lies beyond the security screening barricades, Neffenger said there is "a lot more patrolling of public areas here than I believe was the case in Brussels."

"Would that have been enough to have caught that? I can't say for certain. ... I'm comfortable that in the United States, in particular, that we're doing about as much as we can do to track, to identify and to pay attention to people of concern," he said.

Congress also took steps this week to beef up security in the wake of the Brussels bombings. On Thursday, the Senate approved a bipartisan package of amendments to an aviation bill, intended to tighten the vetting process for airport workers and double the agency's number of visible security teams that use bomb-sniffing dogs. However, there's no guarantee those provisions will make it into law, as the bill is still working its way through the process.

On Wednesday, before the Senate approved the security package, Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) took Neffenger to task, criticizing TSA for not doing enough to screen airport workers. Nelson said the Atlanta airport worker gun smuggling ring uncovered in December 2014 and more recently, bombs snuck onto commercial planes overseas, make it imperative that TSA push airports to tighten up access and screening for their employees.

"Atlanta, Miami and Orlando," have thorough worker vetting in place, Nelson said. "What about the rest of the 297 airports nationwide?" Neffenger said the agency and airports have taken significant steps in recent months to tighten worker access — but Nelson wasn't satisfied. "The only person that is going to get the airports off their duff to limit the access into their airports is going to be you and your administration," Nelson said during the hearing Wednesday.

Neffenger defended the agency during his meeting with reporters Friday.

There are "a lot of players" in airport security, he said, not just TSA. Therefore, he said, it's up to everyone — including local police and employers — to vet airport workers and cargo, such as catering equipment, that enter secure areas. "I think that's a shared responsibility. There's no way that TSA could — we don't have the current resources to physically check everybody," Neffenger said.