U.S. Rep. Bob Brady is calling the training failure of TSA bomb sniffing dogs at Philadelphia International Airport "totally ridiculous."
The congressman sent a letter to the government agency Wednesday demanding they replace several dogs that failed their recertification training.
In the letter, Brady told the TSA "to immediately replace the three dogs on duty at PHL with certified animals so that passengers and cargo flying out of our airport can do so safely."
TSA officials refused to release the number of canines affected by the failure, but Brady and other sources peg the number at three. There are 10 additional dogs assigned to the airport, sources said.
The canines came under fire Tuesday after news leaked that dogs were serving at the airport after failing to detect the scent of explosive materials during annual certification training.
The dogs were only being used as a visual deterrent while they underwent an intense rehabilitation training program, officials said. But the TSA never notified the airport of the failure, PHL officials said.
Philadelphia Police K-9 units also patrol the airport and were not affected. To fill the gap, the police department sent three additional units to Philly International, Brady said.
Acting TSA administrator Gale Rossides has yet to respond to Brady, but spokesman Greg Soule said it's not out of the realm of possibility that a dog would fail certification testing because of the "rigorous nature" of the tests.
Soule says other layers of security were put into place once the dogs were no longer fit for duty. The TSA canine teams handle checking cargo traffic, while police units operate both in passenger areas and cargo.
Built-in redundancy means the dogs' lack of certification will not hurt air cargo screening, Soule said.
