Today [May 12, 2006], Hatfield is the acting federal security chief at Newark Liberty International Airport, where five years ago hijackers boarded United Flight 93.

<snip>

"How do you put the security of a major New York airport in the hands of
someone who has absolutely no security training?" said Michael Boyd, an
aviation industry consultant. "This guy has no security background at all --
none. He has no business being in that job. He should be removed
immediately."

<snip>

Before joining TSA, Hatfield worked in public relations, as a lobbyist and
as a White House event planner in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and
George H. W. Bush. Hatfield also worked on the campaigns of those
presidents, and once helped plan a summer concert tour for the Beach Boys.
His resume is not without some law-enforcement experience: For three years
in the 1980s, he was a sworn reserve officer for the Portland, Ore., Police
Department, where he made arrests and carried a gun, he said.

"But when a crime of opportunity presents itself, individual loses his or her moral compass and makes a bad decision," said Mark Hatfield, with the TSA.

Another inspector general report released yesterday found that security screeners continue to miss knives, guns and other prohibited items in tests conducted at security checkpoints and recommended better technology to help screeners detect weapons and explosives. The TSA has said it has been constrained by its limited budget to deploy new technologies.

Yesterday, the agency said more could be done.

"We will continue to seek incremental gains in screener performance through training, testing and management practices," Hatfield said.

Edmund S. "Kip" Hawley, an assistant secretary of homeland security, directed his staff to propose changes in how the agency screens 2 million passengers a day. The staff's first set of recommendations, detailed in an Aug. 5 document, includes proposals to lift the ban on various carry-on items such as scissors, razor blades and knives less than five inches long. It also proposes that passengers no longer routinely be required to remove their shoes at security checkpoints.

<snip>

"The process is designed to stimulate creative thinking and challenge conventional beliefs," said TSA spokesman Mark O. Hatfield Jr. "In the end, it will allow us to work smarter and better as we secure America's transportation system."

Security at U.S. airports is no better under federal control than it was before the Sept. 11 attacks, a key House member says two government reports will conclude.

<snip>

The TSA won't comment on the specifics of the reports until they are released, spokesman Mark Hatfield Jr. said.

But, he said: "When the political posturing is over, rational people will see that American screeners today are the best we have ever had and that they are limited only by current technology and security procedures that are significantly influenced by privacy demands."