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After barely a year on the job, five high-ranking security directors assigned to oversee some of the nation's largest airports have resigned since February. Some of them said the work was less law enforcement than catering to the customer-service demands of the airline industry.
The Transportation Security Administration, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, hired more than 150 federal security directors, who are the agency's top representatives in charge of security at individual airports. With salaries as high as $150,000 a year, security directors work with city leaders, police departments, airport officials and airlines to coordinate security. They also have the authority to evacuate terminals or shut down airports in the event of security breaches.
While most federal security directors remain at their assigned airports, there are vacancies at some of the largest and most security-sensitive airports, including, Reagan National, New York's La Guardia, Chicago O'Hare International, Denver International and Los Angeles International airports.
Some directors said publicly that they left their jobs for personal reasons or to take higher-paying positions. Others, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said they grew disenchanted with the a job that seemed to lose authority over time.
"You're essentially a figurehead position," said one security director who quit. "You don't get any respect from airlines and airports."
Many of the former directors come from long careers in the military or police agencies. While some directors complained about the agency's shift from law enforcement, none said that security at the airports had been compromised.
Some said they took the job thinking that they would essentially be top cops at the airports. Instead, they said, they ended up like airport mayors, spending most of their time smoothing over local politics and serving as human resources coordinators for the passenger-screening workforce.
"TSA changed its focus and it became more of a customer-service agency -- one we thought was too easily influenced by the airline industry lobbyists and trade associations," said another former security director. "The ability to do law enforcement or security work was hampered by them . . . which forced most of us to leave."
The directors resigned since the beginning of the year -- with one serving less than nine months -- after the agency met crucial deadlines to hire federal screeners and begin checking luggage for explosives.
The TSA's spokesman, Robert Johnson, said the resignations signaled "growing pains" at the agency but also suggested some directors were interested in the challenges of meeting the deadlines last year and now are being lured with offers from the private sector.
For example, Isaac Richardson, the former Navy rear admiral and security director at O'Hare, left his post for a job with Bechtel National Inc. Allan Hoehl, a former high-ranking New York Police Department officer and security director at La Guardia, left to take a public-safety position at St. John's University in New York.
Others took other government jobs. Anthony Zotto, a former Secret Service agent assigned to protect Vice President Cheney who was security director at National airport now works for the Environmental Protection Agency as a criminal investigator. The TSA said it will announce Zotto's replacement soon. William H. Pickle, another veteran of the Secret Service who was Denver International's security director, is now the U.S. Senate's sergeant-at-arms.
"A lot of people attracted to those jobs are adrenaline junkies looking for seemingly impossible challenges," Johnson said.
David Stone, the federal security director at Los Angeles, whose last day will be next week, said he has not decided what he will do next. "I felt the timing was very good, now that we've got a team in place here and milestones have been met," said Stone, a former Navy admiral.
Under the agency's previous director, John W. Magaw, the TSA considered swearing in federal security directors as law enforcement officers, a move that would allow them to receive some intelligence briefings. The agency also planned to hire staffs of TSA law enforcement officers at airports and large teams of federal investigators.
Congress and the TSA's current director, James M. Loy, rejected those ideas in the past year, citing budget concerns and mission creep. Several weeks ago, Loy got rid of a requirement for a police officer to be stationed at every security checkpoint. Former directors took that as an indication that the agency is further reducing its emphasis on law enforcement.
Johnson, the TSA spokesman, said federal security directors have to work cooperatively with airports and airlines, although he said the agency could improve its communication skills. "It would be extremely shortsighted to suggest we'd come in to an airport and tell everyone else what to do," he said. "That's not how it works."
Johnson also said the TSA is learning both from the federal directors who have left and those who have stayed.
"We are not finished building this organization," he said. "We have a lot of work to do internally and externally."
The Transportation Security Administration, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, hired more than 150 federal security directors, who are the agency's top representatives in charge of security at individual airports. With salaries as high as $150,000 a year, security directors work with city leaders, police departments, airport officials and airlines to coordinate security. They also have the authority to evacuate terminals or shut down airports in the event of security breaches.
While most federal security directors remain at their assigned airports, there are vacancies at some of the largest and most security-sensitive airports, including, Reagan National, New York's La Guardia, Chicago O'Hare International, Denver International and Los Angeles International airports.
Some directors said publicly that they left their jobs for personal reasons or to take higher-paying positions. Others, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said they grew disenchanted with the a job that seemed to lose authority over time.
"You're essentially a figurehead position," said one security director who quit. "You don't get any respect from airlines and airports."
Many of the former directors come from long careers in the military or police agencies. While some directors complained about the agency's shift from law enforcement, none said that security at the airports had been compromised.
Some said they took the job thinking that they would essentially be top cops at the airports. Instead, they said, they ended up like airport mayors, spending most of their time smoothing over local politics and serving as human resources coordinators for the passenger-screening workforce.
"TSA changed its focus and it became more of a customer-service agency -- one we thought was too easily influenced by the airline industry lobbyists and trade associations," said another former security director. "The ability to do law enforcement or security work was hampered by them . . . which forced most of us to leave."
The directors resigned since the beginning of the year -- with one serving less than nine months -- after the agency met crucial deadlines to hire federal screeners and begin checking luggage for explosives.
The TSA's spokesman, Robert Johnson, said the resignations signaled "growing pains" at the agency but also suggested some directors were interested in the challenges of meeting the deadlines last year and now are being lured with offers from the private sector.
For example, Isaac Richardson, the former Navy rear admiral and security director at O'Hare, left his post for a job with Bechtel National Inc. Allan Hoehl, a former high-ranking New York Police Department officer and security director at La Guardia, left to take a public-safety position at St. John's University in New York.
Others took other government jobs. Anthony Zotto, a former Secret Service agent assigned to protect Vice President Cheney who was security director at National airport now works for the Environmental Protection Agency as a criminal investigator. The TSA said it will announce Zotto's replacement soon. William H. Pickle, another veteran of the Secret Service who was Denver International's security director, is now the U.S. Senate's sergeant-at-arms.
"A lot of people attracted to those jobs are adrenaline junkies looking for seemingly impossible challenges," Johnson said.
David Stone, the federal security director at Los Angeles, whose last day will be next week, said he has not decided what he will do next. "I felt the timing was very good, now that we've got a team in place here and milestones have been met," said Stone, a former Navy admiral.
Under the agency's previous director, John W. Magaw, the TSA considered swearing in federal security directors as law enforcement officers, a move that would allow them to receive some intelligence briefings. The agency also planned to hire staffs of TSA law enforcement officers at airports and large teams of federal investigators.
Congress and the TSA's current director, James M. Loy, rejected those ideas in the past year, citing budget concerns and mission creep. Several weeks ago, Loy got rid of a requirement for a police officer to be stationed at every security checkpoint. Former directors took that as an indication that the agency is further reducing its emphasis on law enforcement.
Johnson, the TSA spokesman, said federal security directors have to work cooperatively with airports and airlines, although he said the agency could improve its communication skills. "It would be extremely shortsighted to suggest we'd come in to an airport and tell everyone else what to do," he said. "That's not how it works."
Johnson also said the TSA is learning both from the federal directors who have left and those who have stayed.
"We are not finished building this organization," he said. "We have a lot of work to do internally and externally."
