Lines are longer and security tighter on Tuesday at Airports across the country. A Homeland Security internal investigation shed light on troubling statistics about airport checkpoints.
Nearly 95% of the attempts by Homeland Security to bring weapons and explosives through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints were successful.
"It is quite alarming to hear a stat that high," said one man about to go through the security line.
"It's really surprising. I was shocked," said Charlotte Bader.
She and her friend Courtney Yarborough were dropping off another friend and relative at the Chattanooga Airport Tuesday morning.
"I don't understand how that's even possible," continued Charlotte.
They say the lines were noticeably longer and the security tighter compared to only days ago.
"Two days in a row we were here, this is the third day. Today the lines are triple," said Charlotte.
The TSA's internal investigation included 70 attempts by field agents to sneak weapons and explosives past checkpoints. 67 of them made it through.
"I think it's rare, to be honest," said one man flying out of Chattanooga.
Not everyone is put off by the overwhelming numbers, some say the likelihood of a typical passenger getting something past security is slim.
"Airports seem to be safe. A lot safer than they used to be, so I really don't concern myself with it," said another man at the airport.
Homeland Security officials tell ABC News that airport security is "strong" and the team that carries out the tests make them extremely difficult. Despite that, they did admit that the results were disappointing.
The internal investigation also determined that little has been done to improve TSA measures despite more than 540 million dollars being spent on checked bag equipment since 2009.
The report by homeland security is still being written meaning it's still not clear what airports the test were carried out at or exactly what items were passed by security.
That final report will be out in a couple months.
By Drew Bollea
