After failing to secure a vote for its first nominee to be director of the Transportation Security Administration, President Barack Obama has nominated a retired Army major general with a lengthy background in intelligence work for the job.
Robert Harding.
The president nominated Robert Harding, a 33-year military veteran, for the position. Before retiring in 2001, Harding was the second in command of Army intelligence. After he retired, he headed his own consulting firm, Harding Security Associates which he sold last year.
In a statement, Obama said:
"I am confident that Bob's talent and expertise will make him a tremendous asset in our ongoing efforts to bolster security and screening measures at our airports. I can think of no one more qualified than Bob to take on this important job, and I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead."
The TSA has gone without a director for more than a year. Obama had named Erroll Southers to the post but his nomination was held up by Republicans who suspected that Southers would be sympathetic to giving collective bargaining rights to TSA's nearly 50,000 security screeners.
Southers' past also raised questions for critics who pointed to a reprimand he received as an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent for running law-enforcement database searches on his estranged wife's boyfriend.
In cases like this where an earlier nominee ran up against congressional resistance, White House officials typically run the new name past members of Congress to make sure the second choice is acceptable. Presumably, they didn't receive any significant pushback which is why they went ahead and made the nomination public.
Harding's intelligence resume should also speed up his approval since he already has gone through the sort of background investigations needed for the job and has the necessary security clearances.
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