Senate committee approves new TSA chief
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the nominations of Edmund S. Hawley to be administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and Richard Skinner to be inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security.
Both men are expected to win easy confirmation by the full Senate.
Hawley worked as an executive for a supply chain software firm and advised the Department of Transportation on starting up the TSA from scratch after the terrorist attacks in 2001. He would take over an agency that recently had more than $250 million cut from its budget request by Congress and which has an uncertain role in domestic transportation security because DHS officials have proposed moving many responsibilities to other parts of the department.
Skinner is acting inspector general and former deputy under Clark Kent Ervin, who was not rehired after his term expired last year. Erwin wrote many reports critical of DHS management, policy and programs.