Transportation Security Administration committed to hiring veterans

The Transportation Security Administration recognizes the valuable skills our nation's veterans provide, and we are committed to supporting their employment to help protect our nation's transportation systems. In fact, more than 25 percent of TSA's workforce has prior military experience, and in fiscal year 2015 we hired 987 veterans.

These military veterans serve in a wide range of positions, including transportation security officer, federal air marshal, intelligence analyst, explosives specialist and a variety of mission support positions.

TSA has a very large veteran contingent in Tampa Bay, with over 25 percent of its local employees holding veteran status. Our federal security director, deputy federal security director and more than half of the senior staff are retired or former military members.

Among our uniformed screeners in Tampa, more than a quarter served in the military and approximately a dozen are on long-term deployments at any given time to fulfill their military reserve commitments.

TSA recently established enhanced Veterans' Appointment Authority, which allows us to hire qualified veteran candidates more quickly for management, administrative and professional positions without having to go through the full application process.

Veterans who are interested in TSA employment opportunities can visit https://tsajobs.tsa.dhs.gov.

Our veterans are a tremendous asset in TSA's work, and we are proud of their contributions to help protect America's traveling public and transportation systems.

Karen Shelton Waters, Assistant Administrator, Office of Human Capital, TSA

Arlington, Va.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Transportation Security Administration committed to hiring veterans ."