Newsstand - NTSB Chairwoman Eyed for FAA Post

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush plans to nominate Marion Blakey to head the Federal Aviation Administration, according to two people with knowledge of the impending decision.

Blakey, 54, currently chairs the National Transportation Safety Board, a position Bush gave her last year. She also served as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and as assistant transportation secretary for public affairs in the first Bush administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-FAA-Administrator.html

FAA Nominee Would Focus On Safety, Not on Security

WASHINGTON -- Marion Blakey, President Bush's choice to head the Federal Aviation Administration, told a Senate panel she would make airliner safety her top priority and leave security largely up to a new agency.

She did caution that the two missions would overlap. "There are times when the interface between two organizations is tough to work out," Ms. Blakey said during her confirmation hearing before the Commerce Committee.

Ms. Blakey, 54 years old, formerly headed the National Transportation Safety Board, and at the FAA would succeed Jane Garvey, whose five-year term expired last month. Ms. Blakey testified as the Senate began debate on establishing a Homeland Security Department, which would include the Transportation Security Administration. That agency has received some criticism since its creation after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1031100926278394955,00.html?mod=DAI