WASHINGTON — The effort to nail down the top spot for the Transportation Security Administration has taken one giant step backwards at a time airport security is still a pressing concern among Americans.
Nominee Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent, said he is withdrawing his name to lead the agency because his nomination had become a lightning rod for politicos in Washington, the Associated Press reported. The move puts the leadership of TSA in limbo at a critical time for the agency.
His nomination had become increasingly problematic.
First off, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint was blocking the final confirmation, saying he feared Southers would let TSA employees join a union.
And then there were questions about his actions some 20 years ago as an FBI agent when he was reprimanded for running background checks on his then-estranged wife’s boyfriend.
He initially told Senators that he had a member of the San Diego police department run a check. But a day after his nomination made it out of committee, he wrote to Senators and said he had actually run the checks himself twice, AP reported.
