The man who helped set up the Transportation Security Administration after the terrorist attacks of 2001 died on Monday. He died at the age of68.
Victoria Hawley Rome said that the cause was lung cancer.
After 9/11, Mr. Hawley was summoned to Washington by Norman Mineta, the transportation secretary under President George W. Bush, to oversee the establishment of the T.S.A.
Mr. Hawley's mission included the creation of a new 50,000-member federal airport screening force, the expansion of the federal air marshal service, and the installation of bomb-detection machines at more than 400 commercial airports nationwide. The agency worked with airlines to reinforce cockpit doors. The shoe bomber attempt from Paris to Miami in December 2001 only made the situation worse.
The T.S.A. had three administrators who led it between 2002 and 2005. He was the T.S.A. administrator until the end of the Bush administration.
He was proud that the agency was in concert with law enforcement and intelligence officials to prevent another 9/11.
The T.S.A. had a rocky history, and by the time Mr. Hawley returned as administrator, government watchdogs had warned that federal screeners were often failing to detect hidden guns, knives and bombs during undercover tests. The T.S.A. was at a low point in the public's opinion, and Mr. Hawley was aware of that.
The Office for Annoying Air Travelers and the Directorate for Confusion and Complexity are the two places where screening ideas are thought up.
Mr. Hawley said that they review them to make sure that there are enough annoying consequences so that the blogosphere is always fueled.
Mr. Hawley changed the agency's culture and operations. One of his first acts was to remove scissors and small tools from the list of banned items so that security officers could focus on threats that could destroy an aircraft.
He improved pay and benefits in order to raise the spirits of the work force. He reclassified screeners as security officers, gave them new uniforms, 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266
In August of 2006 Mr. Hawley banned all liquids, gels and aerosols from carry-on luggage in the U.S. after British intelligence discovered a terrorist plot to blow up several airliners.
He spoke about the problems of the agency in a book and in news media essays. He wanted the agency to lift the ban on virtually everything except guns, toxins and explosives because he was concerned that checkpoint operators were too focused on finding items on the banned list. He said that bold proposals were defeated by political interference.
T.S.A. officers should be trained in risk management and encouraged to use their own judgement.
The human brain is the most advanced piece of technology in any organization.
Edmund Summers Hawley III was born in Waltham, Mass., on Nov. 10,1953, and grew up in nearby Winchester, Mass. Edmund Blair Hawley was a management consultant and venture capital executive. His mother managed a household with five sons and a daughter.
In 1976, he earned a degree in political science from Brown University. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1980.
He married Janet Isak that year. Mr. Hawley is survived by his family, which includes his wife and sister.
He worked for Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island while attending law school and later worked in the Reagan White House.
He joined the Union Pacific Corporation two years after joining Citicorp, where he helped introduce modern technology to traditional transportation systems. He was an executive at Arzoon, which makes software to track global trade and logistical information, when he was recruited to help set up the T.S.A.
He did not want his portrait to be hung in the agency's offices next to the president and vice president. He hung a mirror in the place of the one that had been there to make employees see themselves in a different light.
Ellen Murray Howe, a former spokeswoman for the agency, said in an interview that he was a very humble person.
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