By Steve Neavling
Edmund S. “Kip” Hawley, who served as TSA administrator from July 2005 to January 2009, died Monday.
He was 68.
Details of his death were not immediately available.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share the loss of former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske tweeted. “His legacy was a model for compassionate public service, innovation, and customer service which remains a cornerstone @TSA today. The #TSAWorkforce stands with Kip’s family and loved ones.”
In a joint statement, U.S. Reps. Bennie G. Thompson, D-MS, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and John Katko, R-NY, ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Hawley “played an integral role” in protecting Americans following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Our homeland security community is saddened to lose an important contributor to the early days of TSA and the Department of Homeland Security,” they said. “I commend former Administrator Hawley for his service and dedication to securing our Nation’s aviation system. I share his focus on advocating for the dedicated professionals at TSA. As he said in a statement for the record at our recent committee hearing on the State of TSA Twenty Years After 9/11, ‘intelligence and technology are critical to effective security, but people were – and still are – TSA’s strongest asset.’”
Born in Waltham, Mass., Hawley received a political science degree from Brown University in 1976 and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1980.
He left behind a wife and two children.
