On May 17, 2016, the Washington Examiner reported that Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) gave Neffenger an ultimatum: reduce airport wait times by Memorial Day or resign. Kirk’s letter, as quoted, said the flying public faced “a high security risk and economic burden from unnecessary wait times and missed flights due to insufficient staffing at TSA,” and that if travelers did not have relief by Memorial Day, “TSA Administration Neffenger must resign.” The Examiner noted Congress had just approved additional TSA hiring money.
Fox News reported Neffenger telling the House Homeland Security Committee that lengthy waits at Chicago O’Hare were “preventable” and that the agency was not prepared for the travel surge. He said the agency was short-handed. Epoch Times reported he was headed back to Capitol Hill on the lines and on the ouster of the agency’s top security official. The House Homeland Security Committee printed a May 25, 2016, hearing titled “Long Lines, Short Patience: The TSA Airport Screening Experience,” with Neffenger as the witness.
Those are contemporaneous statements and a printed hearing. They are not a finding that he committed a crime. They are the public record of the 2016 checkpoint collapse on his watch.