The agency has blamed budget constraints for the nightmarish lines, which have caused 4,000 Americans to miss their flights and 100 travelers to sleep on cots overnight at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
However, an analysis of recent government contracts reveals that over the past month the TSA has spent more than $2 million on various services unrelated to increasing manpower or improving security.
The agency awarded a public relations contract worth $53,234 for news clippings and media monitoring from a company that worked with President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Cision cites Obama’s campaign as a “success story” and credits its data operation for his victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The company said the campaign used their “social intelligence software to monitor social and assess conversations of key audiences in swing states and respond accordingly.”
