gowadia, i'm sorry, gowadia. gowadia, thank you. there cannot be lip service, and we talked about this, to what tsa is doing to address these findings. there needs to be a significant lasting and meaningful reform from the top to the bottom of the agency. if there are employees unwilling to change, you must replace them with those who will, and that includes the ones at the very top. every minute tsa is forced to handle employee misconduct is one less that they are safeguarding the lives of travelers. the american people deserve better and they are counting on you. they are counting on us. they are counting on you particularly to succeed in your mission. that ends my statement. chair now recognizes the ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight and management efficiency, the lady from new jersey, ms. watson kohlman for her statement. >> thank you very much, chairman, and thank you to you and chairman katko for holding today's hearing. just as a matter of on the record i want to make it known that we are just receiving a copy of

gowadia, i'm sorry, gowadia. gowadia, thank you. there cannot be lip service, and we talked about this, to what tsa is doing to address these findings. there needs to be a significant lasting and meaningful reform from the top to the bottom of the agency. if there are employees unwilling to change, you must replace them with those who will, and that includes the ones at the very top. every minute tsa is forced to handle employee misconduct is one less that they are safeguarding the lives of travelers. the american people deserve better and they are counting on you. they are counting on us. they are counting on you particularly to succeed in your mission. that ends my statement. chair now recognizes the ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight and management efficiency, the lady from new jersey, ms. watson kohlman for her statement. >> thank you very much, chairman, and thank you to you and chairman katko for holding today's hearing. just as a matter of on the record i want to make it known that we are just receiving a copy of

gowadia, right? >> yes, ma'am. >> so those issues were addressed, are addressed to you all to evaluate? >> yes, ma'am. >> all righty. i understand that you are significantly understaffed and that there have been instances where people have had to work back-to-back shifts? >> yes, ma'am. >> do you find that there's any correlation between that phenomenon, that understaffing or inadequate staffing and these tardynesses or these awols or leave without permission? >> first, ma'am, i would like very much to thank congress for the reprogramming actions that have allowed us to hire new officers, bring on and convert more from part-time to full-time status and give us a significant bank of hours to mitigate some of the impact on our front line officers. while we have not studied the data sufficiently to give you a definite one for one correlation, i will tell you that the informed opinion of our leadership is that the fact that we have shift work, some shifts start at 3:30 in the morning, some officers have

gowadia, my time expired. i think we will do one more round but you will be interested to note the data we are talking about, it is my understanding, the department didn't know much about the data even though they collected it until our team went in and started asking questions. they frp were not aware of using the data so to speak in punishment and judicial action. so that is a great concern. with that, i want to recognize other members as well. so i will recognize ms. watson-coleman. >> thank you, chairman, and thank you doctor for the information you are sharing and to you, mr. oosterbaan. mr. oosterbaan, you work for mr. roth and who does he report to? >> the report report is different than in some contexts. >> who are you accountable to in >> we work fwr the department of homeland security and therefore the secretary. although there is a different reporting that is done for the ig. >> what does that mean? >> that means that our independence is critically important and there is a limited amount of control