Bush Administration Creates New Post

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 11, 2001

Bush Administration Creates New Post

The Bush administration Monday turned to a career law enforcement official and terrorism expert to lead a new transportation security agency.

The Bush administration Monday turned to a career law enforcement official and terrorism expert to lead a new transportation security agency.

John Magaw will officially take the reins of the Transportation Security Administration after Senate confirmation. Magaw took over the troubled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms after the tragedy near Waco, Texas, in 1993. He also headed the Secret Service from 1992 to 1993.

Magaw, 66, faces a series of tight deadlines to enact new security measures. His agency must hire a federal force of roughly 28,000 airport screeners. He began work Monday at the Transportation Department, which oversees the new agency, a spokesman said.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who announced the appointment, called him the top candidate in the administration's "continuing efforts to return our skies, our roads and highways, and our ports and waterways to the American people who own them."

Since December 1999, Magaw has served as a domestic terrorism adviser at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Senate commerce committee Chairman Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., said he would schedule Magaw's confirmation hearing as early as this week, signaling likely approval. Magaw will be paid $141,300 a year, plus a bonus of up to 30% of his salary.

Magaw faces massive challenges in implementing transportation security enhancements.

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