In reality, Mr. Hawley reviewing the agency’s culture and operations. He improved technology and procedures to improve safety and efficiency, and he tried to bring common sense to the job; one of his first acts was to remove scissors and small tools from the prohibited items list so that security officers could focus on threats that could destroy an aircraft.
To raise morale within the workforce, he improved wages and benefits. He also reclassified screeners as security guards, involved them in decision-making and gave them new uniforms.
A highlight of his tenure came in August 2006, when British intelligence thwarted a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on several planes bound for the United States and Canada; mr. Hawley quickly banned all liquids, gels and aerosols from carry-on luggage in the US. Six weeks later, he allowed liquids in containers no larger than 3.4 ounces.
After leaving the agency, he spoke of its problems in the book “Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security” (2012), written with Nathan Means, and in essays for the news media. Concerned that checkpoint operators were too focused on finding items on the banned list — items that posed little threat to bringing down a plane — he wanted the agency to lift the ban on virtually everything except weapons, poisons, and explosives. But he said such bold proposals were thwarted by political interference.
He also urged that TSA officials be trained in risk management and encouraged to use their own judgment.
As he often said, “The most advanced piece of technology in any organization is the human brain.”
Edmund Summers Hawley III was born on November 10, 1953 in Waltham, Massachusetts, and grew up in nearby Winchester, Massachusetts. His father, Edmund Blair Hawley, was a management consultant, venture capital manager and educator. His mother, Greta (Crocker) Hawley, managed a household of five sons and a daughter.
Kip attended Brown University, where he received a degree in political science in 1976 with a specialty in national security affairs. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1980.
