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Due to larger crowds and longer wait times, the Transportation Security Administration is making some changes.
The TSA chief told USA Today on Friday that the agency is hiring more screening officers and reassigning canine teams to busier airports.
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TSA administrator Peter Neffenger told the newspaper that a previous decision to reduce staff members by 1,700 at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport by the end of September has been reversed. Now almost 200 officers are graduating from the training program each week.
Travelers can now move through an expedited screening after an explosives-detection dog sniffs them out, USA Today reported. They don't need to take off their shoes or light coats, and can leave their laptops and small containers of liquids inside their carry-on luggage.
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After terrorist threats have been made elsewhere, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she met with Neffenger to discuss the need for tighter security and for efficiency in moving passengers through security lines, according to USA Today.
State and local officials were frustrated that the Minneapolis airport recently adjusted its checkpoints but did not hire more staff, leading to hour-long lines, USA Today reported.
"I think we have seen some improvements," Klobuchar, who heads the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus, told the newspaper. "It was completely unacceptable what we were seeing before."
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