CHICAGO- Chronic fatigue at airport towers and government radar facilities that direct planes is still a major threat to safety, three years after a “sleeping controllers’’ scandal spurred the Federal Aviation Administration to focus on evening out work schedules, a government report released today said.

The FAA this year shifted to a controversial off-the-street hiring policy for controllers. By selecting candidates from among the general public, the FAA abandoned a 24-year program that recruited controllers from among military veterans with aviation experience and FAA-accredited colleges and universities, including Lewis University in Romeoville, that produce graduates with air-traffic control degrees.

Members of Illinois’ congressional delegation this week pressed the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation to explain the rationale for the hiring change and to produce documents related to a “biographical assessment’’ that is the new tool for screening applicants.

The lawmakers asked U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx for a thorough explanation of the hiring procedures which the delegation contends have jeopardized the careers of aspiring air-traffic controllers and raised concerns of safety and transparency.

The revised hiring process is “saturated with a disturbing lack of transparency," the lawmakers said in a letter sent to Foxx on Wednesday.

It was signed by U.S. Reps Randy Hultgren, Dan Lipinski, Tammy Duckworth, Adam Kinzinger, Brad Schneider, Bill Enyart, Rodney Davis, Bobby Rush, Aaron Schock and John Shimkus.

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