President Donald Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard before their terms are up and eliminated all the members of a key aviation security advisory group. Trump’s immigration policy changes drew the most attention at DHS, but he is also making changes at the rest of the massive agency.
Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday saying that the department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.”
The aviation security committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue to exist but it won’t have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Before Tuesday, the group included representatives of all the key groups in the industry — including the airlines and major unions — as well as members of a group associated with the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing. The vast majority of the group’s recommendations were adopted over the years.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many other committees were effectively eliminated Tuesday or whether other departments will take similar actions. A similar safety group advises the Federal Railroad Administration on new rules and safety issues in that industry.
The future of the committee remains unclear because DHS officials didn’t respond Tuesday to questions about the move. The memo that announced the terminations said that future committee activities will be focused on “advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities” but the group has no members.
Adding to Bernstein’s concern is the fact that TSA Administrator David Pekoske was fired even though he was originally appointed by Trump during his first term and was in the middle of what was supposed to be Pekoske’s second five-year term in the job after he was reappointed by Biden and confirmed by the Senate.
No reason was given for Pekoske’s departure. But in an unrelated news release Tuesday about the restarting of a program, which is often referred to as “Remain in Mexico,” DHS highlighted Pekoske’s role in attempting to terminate the policy at a time when he was acting secretary at the beginning of the Biden administration. Pekoske held the acting post before Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate.
