Mineta names new transportation security undersecretary

By JONATHAN D. SALANT
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – John Magaw was nominated Monday as the first undersecretary of transportation security.

Magaw is a former head of the Secret Service who was named to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms following the confrontation with followers of David Koresh in Waco, Texas.

Since December 1999, he worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The nomination, announced by Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, is subject to Senate approval. If confirmed, Magaw would serve five years.

"This is a twofold approach for us," Mineta said. "We have to be able to deal with the safety and security of the traveling public. We have to make sure the business of America is not slowed down."

Magaw said he would dedicate his efforts to the memory of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Congress set up the new transportation security administration in the aviation security bill passed last month. The new agency, under the auspices of the Transportation Department, will take over airline security from the Federal Aviation Administration.

One of its first responsibilities will be to hire and train some 28,000 passenger screeners to staff airport checkpoints. The agency also will oversee security for other transportation modes, such as buses and trains.

The undersecretary will be able to bypass the normal, time-consuming procedures for issuing new regulations. In the past, the Transportation Department often missed congressional deadlines for issuing new rules.

DOT met just 10 percent of congressionally mandated deadlines for new rules in 1999, the inspector general said in a report issued last year. The report found that the department took an average of 3.8 years to issue a significant rule in 1999, compared with 1.8 years in 1993.

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On the Net:

Transportation Department: www.dot.gov

AP-WS-12-10-01 1515EST