TSA chief announces departure

WASHINGTON – John Pistole announced Thursday he is stepping down as chief of the Transportation Security Administration after 4 1/2 turbulent years in which the agency sought to balance passenger privacy against safety and stay a step ahead of terrorists looking for cunning new ways to smuggle bombs aboard planes.

Pistole said he will leave office at the end of the year and expects to accept a position in academia next year. Shortly after his announcement, Anderson University posted a statement on its website that said a search committee will propose to the school’s board of trustees that Pistole be the school’s next president. The university is located in Pistole’s hometown of Anderson, Indiana.

Pistole received a bachelor’s degree in 1978 from the nearly 100-year-old university.

Pistole’s departure comes at a time when the agency is facing one of its toughest challenges since its creation after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – how to prevent a terrorist from boarding a plane with a bomb that contains no metal parts and isn’t detectable through normal screening. Pistole warned last month that an al-Qaida cell in Syria known as the Khorasan Group has been researching and testing improvised explosive devices designed to elude airport security and represents “a clear and present danger” to commercial flights to Europe and the United States.

Pistole instituted a “risk-based” security philosophy that has enabled the agency to move passengers deemed to be low risk through airport screening more quickly and significantly reduced passenger complaints. The Trusted Traveler and PreCheck programs are used by 5 million passengers per week at 120 U.S. airports, according to the agency.