Police say a Transportation Security Administration agent stole $5,000 in cash from a passenger's jacket as he was going through security at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the latest in a string of thefts that has embarrassed the agency.

Alexandra Schmid took the cash from the jacket of a Bangladeshi passenger as it went along an X-ray conveyor belt at around 8pm Wednesday, said Port Authority spokesman Al Della Fave.

'In viewing the surveillance video, we observed her removing the currency from the victim's jacket pocket,' Mr Della Fave said.