Security chief Canavan leaving Federal Aviation Administration

WASHINGTON – The head of security for the Federal Aviation Administration is leaving his post and looking at other opportunities, an agency spokeswoman said Friday.

Michael A. Canavan, a retired Army lieutenant general, had taken the job as associate administrator for FAA's office of civil aviation security just last December.

FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler called Canavan's departure a mutually agreed-upon decision between Canavan and Administrator Jane Garvey, who named him to the post.

Lynne Osmus, deputy associate administrator for civil aviation security, will take over until a permanent replacement is named, Trexler said.

Both the General Accounting Office and Transportation Department inspector general had issued several reports critical of aviation security prior to the Sept. 11 hijackings of four commercial airlines.

This is not the first time that an FAA security chief left his post amid criticism of airline security.

Raymond Salazar took another post within the agency following the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. At that time, federal lawmakers and a presidential commission were critical of airline security.

On Tuesday, Acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift reassigned the head of security at Boston's Logan Airport, where two of the hijacked planes took off from. Joseph Lawless was reassigned to oversee security at the Port of Boston and was replaced by State Police Superintendent Col. John DiFava.

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APNP-10-05-01 1003CDT