John S. Pistole

John Pistole
Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration
Incumbent
Assumed office June 25, 2010
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	John Halinski
Preceded by	Gale Rossides (Acting)
Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
In office October 1, 2004 – May 17, 2010
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Bruce Gebhardt
Succeeded by	Timothy Murphy
Personal details
Born	(1956-06-01) June 1, 1956 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma mater	Anderson University, Indiana Indiana University, Indianapolis

John S. Pistole (born June 1, 1956) in Baltimore, Maryland^[1][2] is the Administrator of the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^[3]

Education

He is a graduate of Anderson University and the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Pistole practiced law for two years before joining the FBI in 1983.^[4]

Public service

Since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, John Pistole has been involved in the formation of terrorism policies during the Bush and Obama administrations.

9/11 Commission

On 14 April 2004, Pistole testified before the 9/11 Commission at its 10th public hearing on a panel, Preventing Future Attacks Inside the United States.

On 16 June 2004, Pistole testified before the 9/11 Commission at its 12th public hearing. The page on the 9/11 Commission website does not include Pistole's name, and the PDF transcript does not list him as a participant, but he testified on June 16, 2004 as a panelist. He discussed threat levels of a possible attack by Al-Qaeda in 2004, as well as other topics.^[5]

On 23 August 2004, Pistole testified before Congress about changes the FBI made in response to the 9/11 Commission.^[6]

Pistole and Valerie E. Caproni were the two FBI officials who approved a memo laying out the FBI's policy on the limits to the interrogation of captives taken during the United States' war on terror.^[7] The memo was from the FBI's General Counsel, to all offices, explaining that FBI officials were not allowed to engage in coercive interrogations; FBI officials were not allowed to sit in on coercive interrogations conducted by third parties; FBI officials were required to immediately report any instances of suspected coercive interrogation up the FBI chain of command.

FBI

Pistole served as Deputy Director of the FBI from October 2004 to May 2010. As Deputy Director, Pistole was second in command within the FBI and pivotally involved in the formation of terrorism policies.

Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano meet with President Obama in the Oval Office.

TSA

Pistole was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration on 17 May 2010 and was unanimously confirmed to serve in that position by the United States Senate on 25 June 2010. On 16 November 2010 Pistole defended his agency's new extensive pat-down procedures and Advanced Imaging Technology (A.I.T) as necessary.

On 21 November 2010, Pistole again justified the new search policies on CNN saying "We know through intelligence that there are determined people, terrorists who are trying to kill not only Americans but innocent people around the world."^[8] On 21 November 2010, Pistole acknowledged new TSA screening procedures are "invasive" and "uncomfortable" but said they were necessary. Many questions raised by American citizens regarding this policy remain unanswered and Pistole has remained silent regarding significant constitutional objections.

After a February 2011 attempt by a TSA VIPR team in Savannah to search passengers disembarking from an Amtrak train, the TSA was banned from Amtrak property by Amtrak Police Chief John O'Connor.^[9]

References

External links

• Photos of John Pistole Testifying before the 9/11 Commission in 2004