The Transportation Security Administration is allowing some of the busiest airports to forgo criminal background checks and security-threat assessments on potential employees, letting them work once they've been fingerprinted and their data are entered for a background check. "To allow for a continuity of operations, TSA has provided airports and airlines with interim regulatory relief," said Jon Allen, a spokesman for the TSA, in a statement. "At no time was security at risk, and all new employees will still undergo identity verification and be subject to watch list matching."