WASHINGTON — President Obama nominated the US Coast Guard’s second-in-command on Tuesday to run the Transportation Security Administration, tasking Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger with keeping passengers safe amid increasingly complex threats from the Middle East and beyond.
Neffenger, who has served as the Coast Guard’s vice commandant since 2014, has served in the Coast Guard since 1981 and once oversaw port security in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California. He also was the deputy incident commander for the oil spill that resulted from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.
If confirmed by the Senate, he will replace former TSA chief John Pistole, who announced his retirement last year after 4½ turbulent years leading the agency best known for its role screening passengers at US airports. With a workforce of more than 60,000 employees, the TSA runs security operations at more than 450 airports throughout the United States.
“The talent and expertise Vice Admmiral Neffenger brings to his new role after more than three decades at the US Coast Guard will be valuable to this administration’s efforts to strengthen transportation security,” the president said in a statement.