Obama says to nominate Harding as long-vacant TSA chief

U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate ex-Army general Robert Harding to the long vacant position of chief of the Transportation Security Administration, the White House said Monday.

Obama said he's confident Harding's expertise will make him a " tremendous asset in our ongoing efforts to bolster security and screening measures at our airports."

The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security and is responsible for screening airline passengers at U.S. airports.

Harding has spent over 35 years working in the intelligence community. He served as Director for Operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency in the 1990s'.

The TSA was created in the aftermath of the "9/11" attacks in 2001, but the Obama administration was unable to find a chief for the agency. The absence of leadership became conspicuous after the failed Christmas plane bombing attack last year.

Obama nominated former FBI special agent Erroll Southers last September to head the TSA, but the nomination was held by a Republican Senator, and Southers withdrew in January.

In order to boost airport security, the Department of Homeland Security on Friday announced 11 airports to be equipped with full- body scanning machines to better detect possible threats.

Traditional detectors that are usually deployed at airports across the world can not detect non-metallic explosives that a Nigerian used when attempting to destroy a U.S.-bound flight on Dec. 25, 2009.

In addressing public's concern that the new procedure is likely to violate passengers' privacy, the TSA promised to blur pictures of passengers' faces and delete all images produced right after checking as response.

Currently, 40 full-body scanners purchased previously are deployed at 19 airports nationwide. TSA expects to deploy a total of 450 units by the end of 2010.

Source: Xinhua