(Analyst's note:  This troubling news item points to additional gov't failures to protect the American public.  Americans are tired of gov't excuses.  This problem reported here has been known since day one and they let on as if this is a new discovery.  I don't know about you, but I'm getting too old and stiff to continue to take off my shoes and walk around airports barefooted while they ignore the cargo within the belly of my plane and political correctness rules the passenger checks.  I'm simply fed up with the gov'ts efforts to make us think we are safe.  How many years have we now been at war with the jihadist?)

"Air cargo is vulnerable," says a report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.

The report, out today, cites repeated problems with the TSA's program to stop terrorists from sneaking a bomb into any of the tens of thousands of cargo packages carried each day in the bellies of passenger planes.

Investigators were able to slip into supposedly secure warehouses where cargo is stored before being loaded onto airplanes and walk around unchallenged, the report says. Inspector General Richard Skinner also found some workers who handle the cargo had not received required background checks or training.

The TSA "has not been effective" in making airlines and freight-handling companies comply with security rules for cargo, Skinner said in his report.

In a response attached to the report, TSA acting Administrator Gale Rossides said agency leaders "are in agreement" that the problems should be addressed. The report's six recommendations, including improved employee training, "will provide additional benefit to TSA," Rossides wrote.

TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee said agency inspectors are focusing on airlines and companies deemed "higher risk" because of past problems.

The report raises "legitimate concerns," as the TSA is under congressional mandate to tighten scrutiny of the 12 million pounds of cargo carried each day alongside luggage in passenger planes, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

The report shows the TSA does not have enough personnel to handle new rules for screening cargo, he said. Passenger planes carry everything from produce and medical supplies to computers and auto parts.

Unlike luggage, airplane cargo is not screened by the TSA. The agency oversees airlines, freight handlers and manufacturers who pack and transport cargo, and ensure its security.

The oversight process "has not effectively ensured" that those companies comply with TSA regulations, the inspector general said. The report noted that the TSA's own inspectors had found repeated violations of agency rules but said "there are repeat patterns of violations that the TSA has been unable to resolve."