(The following story by Bob Edmonson appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on June 4, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The administration’s third nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration will have his day before the Senate Commerce Committee on June 10, the committee announced.
President Obama named John S. Pistole, deputy director of the FBI, on May 17 after his first two choices for the job, Erroll Southers and Robert Harding, withdrew their names under congressional fire.
The president called Pistole “a valuable asset to our administration’s efforts to strengthen the security and screening measures at our airports.”
Pistole began his FBI career in 1983, and was named deputy director in 2004. His career includes work in white-collar crime, organized crime and civil rights. He assisted Italian authorities in the investigation after the assassination of two prominent magistrates, the investigation of the Egypt Air Flight 990 crash in 1999, and helped tighten internal security after the arrest of Robert Hanssen for espionage.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Pistole has worked in the FBI’s office of counterterrorism and counterintelligence.