TSA Too Quick to Embrace Technologies?

Lawmakers, auditors and national security experts are questioning whether the Transportation Security Administration is too quick to embrace technology for basic security problems and too eager to write checks for unproven products, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Since its creation in 2001, TSA has spent about $14 billion in more than 20,900 transactions with dozens of contractors, according to the news report. Among that total, $30 million was spent on puffers -- devices that puff air on travelers to 'sniff' out explosive residue. The devices were quickly abandoned after being deemed impractical.

When TSA sees a promising technology, the temptation is to "run to deploy it before we fully understand how it integrates with the multiple layers we already have in place," Kip Hawley, head of the TSA from 2005 to 2009, told the Post.