ANTI-GUN Transportation Security Chief Quits

Josey1

Transportation Security Chief Quits
Thu Jul 18, 1:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - John Magaw, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, resigned Thursday. No reason was given for his resignation.



Magaw will be replaced by Adm. James Loy, who recently retired as commandant of the Coast Guard and then was named deputy undersecretary for transportation security and chief operating officer of the TSA.

A senior administration official said Magaw is leaving as head of the new TSA apparently for personal reasons.

"John Magaw is a dedicated public servant with a lifetime of achievement in the law enforcement field and we all owe him a debt for his role in the start-up phase of TSA," Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in accepting Magaw's resignation.

Magaw was a former head of the Secret Service ( news - web sites) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He spearheaded the Transportation Department's efforts to meet a Nov. 19 deadline for replacing private screeners at airport checkpoints with an all-federal work force, and a Dec. 31 deadline for inspecting all checked bags for explosives.

He also made the decision not to allow pilots to carry firearms. The House last week voted to arm pilots.

Mineta praised Magaw's successor, saying Loy "has amply demonstrated his ability to motivate and manage a large federal agency when he was commandant of the Coast Guard."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=542&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20020718/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/magaw_resigns_2
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"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

Magaw forced out as security chief

Transportation agency on track to miss targets
Transportation Security Administration head John Magaw had less than six months in the job.



MSNBC

WASHINGTON, July 18 - Less than six months after he was given the task of making U.S. airports and airlines safe, John Magaw was forced out Wednesday as head of the new Transportation Security Administration.







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July 18 - John Magaw cited health reasons in his letter of resignation, but sources told NBC News he was asked to step aside. NBC's Robert Hager reports.



MAGAW, WHO SUBMITTED his resignation at the request of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, will be replaced by the agency's chief operating officer, retired Coast Guard Commandant James M. Loy, MSNBC's Robert Hager reported from Washington.
Mineta issued a statement after MSNBC reported the ouster, praising him as "a dedicated public servant with a lifetime of achievement in the law enforcement field."
The TSA inherited responsibility for aviation security from the Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Faced with a daunting series of congressional mandates to enact tough new measures to make it safer to fly, the agency has consistently fallen short of meeting its deadlines.
MSNBC.com reported in March, for example, that the agency would miss a Dec. 31 deadline to install electronic baggage screening devices in all TSA-supervised airports by as much as three years, a failure TSA officials have since acknowledged in congressional testimony.
Soft Target: Airports as America's first line of defense


UNRELENTING CRITICISM
Magaw, a former director of the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was confirmed in late January to direct the new agency. Almost immediately, the agency came under heavy criticism from aviation industry leaders, congressional overseers and even its own inspector general, who told Congress of serious bureaucratic inefficiencies.



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Magaw had his defenders, too, however, among them Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the powerful chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Young told MSNBC.com recently that he thought Magaw was the right man for the job and that the TSA was plagued by outdated equipment and procedures left over from the FAA.
"If anyone is negative on 9/11, it's the FAA," Young said. "... They are an outdated agency."
Other congressional figures also said Magaw deserved more time, noting that the agency had been given an enormous task and a very short time to accomplish it.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the Transportation subcommittee on aviation, told MSNBC.com that "the Congress has set in law some requirements that are very difficult to meet from a practical and technical standpoint."
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But a series of embarrassing disclosures had made the agency a punching bag for many in Congress and the aviation industry. In addition to missing the scanning deadline, critics said, the agency also:
Issued new rules that put ordinary travelers under undue scrutiny while not applying enough scrutiny to travelers who should excite concern.
Issued other new rules that would do nothing to address the actual process by which the Sept. 11 attacks were carried out, a coordinated attack by suicide terrorists.
Delayed conducting tests on procedures to close a loophole in checked-baggage security for many months.
The agency conducted a secret test only after an MSNBC.com report in March and said it had no plans ever to reveal its results. MSNBC.com reported last month that the test was being suppressed because of pressure from airlines involved in the test, who did not want it revealed that the test indicated little impact on airlines' schedules or income.






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NEW LEADER EXPERT ON MANAGEMENT
Loy, whom Mineta nominated to replace Magaw, retired as commandant of the Coast Guard, the service's top leader, in May and was soon appointed deputy undersecretary of transportation for security and chief operating officer of the TSA.
Loy comes to his new job with a reputation as a management expert. As the Coast Guard's chief of staff from 1996 to 1998, he was praised for redesigning the headquarters management structure and overhauling the service's planning and budgeting.
Loy also served as chief of personnel and training, a background that will be important as he tries to address lawmakers' concerns about the hiring and training of a new force of federal airport security officers.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/782337.asp?0cm=c10&cp1=1#BODY

"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Nighthawk

Good for him!!

Rugster

Josey1

CCRKBA Hails Magaw Resignation from TSA
U.S. Newswire
18 Jul 16:52
CCRKBA Hails Magaw Resignation From TSA
To: National Desk, Transportation Reporter
Contact: Joe Waldron or Dave Workman, 425-454-4911
both of the Citizens Committee for the Right
to Keep and Bear Arms

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- John Magaw's
resignation today as Under Secretary of Transportation for Security
was hailed by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear
Arms, which called Magaw a "major roadblock in the arming of
commercial airline pilots, which is a critical last line of defense
for airplane crews and passengers, and people on the ground."

"While Mr. Magaw has had a long and distinguished career in
federal law enforcement," said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe
Waldron, "it is clear from his position on arming pilots that he
was out of step with both Congress and the American people."

Magaw had steadfastly opposed arming pilots as a measure against
terrorists seizing control of the cockpit and repeating the
atrocities of last Sept. 11. The former chief of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and before that head of the Secret
Service, Magaw has been a career bureaucrat with strong anti-gun
credentials. The June 10 issue of Gun Week featured an editorial by
Executive Editor Joseph P. Tartaro, calling for Magaw's removal.

Waldron hoped Magaw's departure would pave the way for what he
called a "more realistic attitude on the subject of armed pilots
from the White House."

"President Bush," Waldron said, "has been reluctant to support
the arming of pilots, possibly because of resistance from Magaw,
and from Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Homeland
Security chief Tom Ridge. Congress overwhelmingly supports the
idea, as demonstrated by the recent House vote on armed pilots
legislation. The traveling public wants armed pilots, and so do
heads of various pilots' associations and the overwhelming majority
of pilots surveyed in recent polling."

Recalling that CCRKBA took the lead on calling for armed pilots
within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks, Waldron observed, "Clearly,
public sentiment supported our position and certainly guided the
House vote, with Magaw, Mineta and Ridge erecting artificial
roadblocks that amounted to little more than a flimsy sham,
disguising their animosity toward firearms and armed self defense.

"We're hopeful that Admiral James Loy, who replaces Magaw, will
adopt a more reasonable position, and consider armed pilots as a
key element in a comprehensive airline security program," Waldron
said.

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of
the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit
organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving
firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and
facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in
local communities throughout the United States.

http://www.usnewswire.com
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
07/18 16:52

Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/prime/0718-138.html

"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878