A report by the inspector general of the US Homeland Security Department savaged the US Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) programme for keeping bombs out of aircraft cargoholds.

The report by Inspector General Richard Skinner said the TSA’s system“increases the opportunities (to put)explosives, incendiaries and other dangerousdevices on passenger aircraft.”

The TSA “does not provide suffi cient resources” to monitor airlines and “does not ensure that air carriers are screening cargo to federal regulations,” the inspector general’s report says. Vaguely written security regulations result in TSA inspectors and airlines applying rules differently, according to the report, which said TSA inspectors “reported not being properly trained.”

The TSA has largely agreed with the inspector general’s conclusions and said it has made improvements since the report’s fi ndings were released privately to the agency in May. The report comes one month after Congress ordered the TSA to vastly improve cargo screening over the next three years.