12 TSA Officials Conducting Air Security from Home

Federal aviation security officials have created and filled a dozen high-paying, work-from-home advisory positions in recent weeks for senior employees, drawing accusations that the new posts are just cushy jobs for veteran colleagues.

U.S. Transportation Security Administration officials say the "senior field executive" jobs will improve communication between the approximately 150 federal security directors at the nation's commercial airports and the three area directors who are their bosses.

The agency's critics and some within the TSA ranks say, however, they are concerned by the fact the jobs were never posted, the job responsibilities seem vague, and it is also unclear how the SFEs will be held accountable.

TSA officials say the jobs fill an important gap in the nation's airport security blanket.

"The SFE's job is to be the eyes and ears of the area directors," said Michael Restovich, TSA's program manager for the initiative and one of the 12 new job-holders. "These are people who have run operations and can be of great help to an existing FSD (federal security director) and a new one."

Restovich added, "Their job is to travel and get in front of issues."

Critics are not convinced. Charles Slepian, an aviation security expert, said the jobs seem to add an unnecessary layer of high-paid officials with marginal duties.

"We have an agency that has been performing less than satisfactorily since its inception. Instead of tightening it, we're featherbedding it," said Slepian, chief executive officer of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center Inc., a consulting firm in New York City.

Some TSA officials questioned why the new jobs are being created while the agency suffers from chronic shortages of checkpoint and baggage screeners at many major airports around the country.

They say the jobs add to the financial strain on an operation that already finds it hard to purchase critical high-tech equipment to detect bombs and other weapons. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.

Restovich called the jobs essential toward easing the burden on the three area directors, who he said have too many airports to oversee with too few staff members.

That has been especially true, he said, after the TSA went from five directors in recent years to only three - for the East, Midwest and West, charged with overseeing the nation's more than 400 commercial airports.

Restovich and 10 other men selected for the posts previously served as federal security directors at airports themselves. (A 12th appointee was a deputy director.)

The jobs pay the same as their previous ones, $122,300 to $160,000 annually. The officers will be based in their homes and have been given government vehicles.

William Hall, the former security director at John F. Kennedy International Airport, will serve as liaison between the federal security director at Newark Liberty International Airport and the Eastern area director.

Most of the new SFEs are approaching retirement age and are seasoned veterans of previous government and military service, with some spending decades in agencies such as the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Customs.

Four of the 12 also will have their pension "waivers" extended, allowing them to continue to draw their full federal pensions for previous government service while continuing to earn federal salaries for their current jobs. With the waivers, the newly appointed executives could increase the earnings as much as 50 percent.

The waivers for those four were set to expire soon after they hit their five-year anniversary with TSA, and now will be extended about two years. Such arrangements and extensions are rare, according to individuals familiar with federal job rules.

"From a taxpayer's perspective, it's a little troubling. . . . It certainly seems unusual," said George Passantino, a pensions expert with the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit, libertarian public policy research organization based in California. "It's essentially double dipping."

TSA officials released a copy of a detailed job description for the posts only after repeated requests from The Star-Ledger for more than a week.

At first, a TSA spokeswoman said the positions were "created to enhance the area directors' connectivity to the field and to provide advice, guidance and support" to federal security directors. She added the individual "is tasked to help ensure consistent application" of TSA's "plans, policies and directives in the field."

Finally, the TSA released a written job description for the new posts. It listed "principal duties and responsibilities," including the following:

"Serves as an adviser in matters involving multi-modal security." ("Multi-modal" means various types of transportation.)

"Ensures compliance of overall agency policies; provides a means for evaluating program accomplishments; and corrects program deficiencies. Serves to assist program coordination for functions or programs that cross operational lines."

"Provides daily assistance and guidance to FSDs and other field elements in the areas of human resources, employee relations, budget and finance, work force and performance management, training, metrics and strategic planning."

The federal security directors will continue to report to the area directors, not the new senior field executives, according to Restovich.

Of the SFEs, he added, "We're still working on their goals and objectives for the year."

Restovich acknowledged that the jobs were not officially posted, but he and a TSA spokeswoman said volunteers were verbally sought in open forums at regional meetings of federal security directors in September.

"It wasn't that many" who volunteered, he said.

Requests to interview Hall and any of the other 10 senior field executives were denied by a TSA spokeswoman, who said Restovich was speaking for the group.

"I think they're creating jobs for buddies," said Steve Elson, a longtime TSA critic and former member of the Federal Aviation Administration's "Red Team," which tested airport security before 9/11.

"Building up the area directors' staff makes sense," said Elson, noting good management principles dictate such action. But "just taking a bunch of old guys and putting them in their homes isn't going to do nothing. They're going to milk the system."

Restovich defended the caliber of those chosen for the posts.

"The 12 we've selected are all Type-A, proven leaders. They're on call 24/7," he said.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.