McGaw was also criticized by Senator Arlen Specter at a recent Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing for defending the actions of BATF agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where the government paid Randy Weaver $3.5 million because the agents killed his wife and son in the altercation.
And notwithstanding Bush appointee McGaw’s controversial and questionable new power to “prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure of information” [controlling evidence] and “security or research and development activities” at the nation’s airports, his newly-recruited TSA personnel security chief David Holmes may be America’s worst security nightmare.
Former Commerce Department colleagues charge that, as favors for politicians and friends, “David Holmes signed off on Commerce applicants with criminal or other derogatory information in their background files. One felon even got Top Secret clearance,” according to WorldNetDaily.com. (4-24-2002)
WorldNetDaily added that a senior Commerce official said “TSA is under enormous pressure to meet that Nov.19 deadline [for hiring 30,000 new baggage screeners].” He then added: “And then you have a guy, who’s already predisposed to looking the other way, making critical decisions on the people who are essentially our last line of defense against armed hijackers. You do the math.”
And notwithstanding Bush appointee McGaw’s controversial and questionable new power to “prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure of information” [controlling evidence] and “security or research and development activities” at the nation’s airports, his newly-recruited TSA personnel security chief David Holmes may be America’s worst security nightmare.
Former Commerce Department colleagues charge that, as favors for politicians and friends, “David Holmes signed off on Commerce applicants with criminal or other derogatory information in their background files. One felon even got Top Secret clearance,” according to WorldNetDaily.com. (4-24-2002)
WorldNetDaily added that a senior Commerce official said “TSA is under enormous pressure to meet that Nov.19 deadline [for hiring 30,000 new baggage screeners].” He then added: “And then you have a guy, who’s already predisposed to looking the other way, making critical decisions on the people who are essentially our last line of defense against armed hijackers. You do the math.”