TSA Says It Still Cannot Report Progress on Background Checks

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>With less than three weeks before its Sept. 2 deadline to complete name-based background checks on millions of hazardous material drivers, the Transportation Security Administration said it could not yet supply information on how those checks were progressing.

“It’s a little bit early to assess progress” on the checks, TSA spokesman Brian Turmail told Transport Topics.

Since hazmat haulers had not been given any word on how the checks were going, a key industry official has already said trucking operations could be disrupted if TSA rejects or raises questions about some drivers in the short time remaining before the deadline (8-4, p. 1).