John S. Pistole is the former Administrator of the United States Transportation Security Administration and a former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is currently the President of Anderson University.
FBI
Pistole served as Deputy Director of the FBI from October 2004 to May 2010. As Deputy Director, Pistole was second in command within the FBI and pivotally involved in the formation of terrorism policies.
Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano meet with President Obama in the Oval Office.
TSA
Pistole was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration on 17 May 2010 and was unanimously confirmed to serve in that position by the United States Senate on 25 June 2010. On 16 November 2010 Pistole defended his agency’s new extensive pat-down procedures and Advanced Imaging Technology (A.I.T) as necessary.
On 21 November 2010, Pistole again justified the new search policies on CNN saying “We know through intelligence that there are determined people, terrorists who are trying to kill not only Americans but innocent people around the world.”[8] On 21 November 2010, Pistole acknowledged new TSA screening procedures are “invasive” and “uncomfortable” but said they were necessary. Many questions raised by American citizens regarding this policy remain unanswered and Pistole has remained silent regarding significant constitutional objections.
After a February 2011 attempt by a TSA VIPR team in Savannah to search passengers disembarking from an Amtrak train, the TSA was banned from Amtrak property by Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor.
On October 16, 2014, Pistole announced that he would retire as TSA Administrator effective December 31, 2014 and take a position in academia. On October 27, 2014, he was elected to be the fifth president of his alma mater, Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana.