Ambassador to Suriname: Who Is John Nay?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
	President Barack Obama appointed a new ambassador for the South American nation of Suriname, a relatively prosperous country in northern South America with a fairly well-developed mining and manufacturing sector, whose population is almost evenly divided amongst Hindus, Protestants, Catholics, and Muslims. Nay was sworn in on August 13, 2009.   Born circa 1954 in Louisiana to Jack and Geraldine Nay, John R. Nay grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, and attended Battle Creek Academy, a Seveth Day Adventist school. He earned a BA (1976) and MA (1977) in History from Andrews University and a Masters in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University in the late 1990s. In 1974, he served his Adventist mission in Japan as an English teacher, an experience he later said “played a significant part in my joining the Foreign Service by helping to stimulate my interest in international affairs and the world.”    Nay joined the State Department in 1977. His first overseas assignment was in Taiwan, from 1978 to 1980, followed by a posting to Singapore from 1980 to 1982. He returned to the U.S. to serve as an analyst on Cambodia and Korea from 1982 to 1985. Nay served at the U.S. Consulate General in Calgary, Canada, from 1985 to 1989, returning to the scene of his first foreign posting to serve as consular chief at the American Institute in Taiwan, in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1990 to 1993. Nay served in Washington, D.C., as Deputy Director for Pacific Island Affairs from 1993 to 1995, and then headed to Africa to be Regional Consular Officer for southern Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1996 to 1999. Continuing to serve overseas, he became Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, from 1999 to 2002. Back in Washington, DC, Nay served from 2002 to 2003 as a Senior Inspector in the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General, and from 2003 to 2006 as Office Director for African Regional and Security Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. He returned to Canada to be Consul General in Toronto from 2006 to 2009.    Nay, who has visited all 50 states, is language qualified in Chinese (Mandarin).  He and his wife, Judith Ashdon Nay, have three children, Janelle, Jaclyn, and Jordan.  - Matt Bewig   State Department Biography Nay, An Adventist, Takes Oath as U.S. Ambassador to Suriname (by Kevin D. Gurubatham, Adventist News)

Ambassador to Latvia: Who Is Judith Garber?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
	President Obama has chosen a career diplomat, Judith (Judy) G. Garber, to represent the U.S. as ambassador to Latvia, the first career diplomat to the small Baltic nation since Brian E. Carlson served in Riga from 2001 to 2004. Garber’s two immediate predecessors, Catherine Todd Bailey and Chuck. Larson, Jr., were non-career appointees who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the 2004 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. Garber was sworn in on August 14, 2009.   Garber earned her bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1984, Garber worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury. A career foreign service officer, Garber’s previous overseas postings include Economic Counselor in Madrid, Spain; Deputy Economic Counselor in Tel Aviv, Israel; Economic Officer in Prague, Czech Republic; Economic Officer in Mexico City, Mexico; and Vice Consul in Seville, Spain. Garber’s Washington assignments have included Director for Overseas Development Finance in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, and director of North Central European Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs from 2007 to 2009, overseeing bilateral relations with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia.   Garber is married with two children.  -Matt Bewig   State Department Biography Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (pdf) US Ambassador Visits Latvian University (by Thorsten Chr. Pohlmann)

Why are Republicans Objecting to So Many of Obama’s Nominations of Women?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
	Congressional delays of President Barack Obama’s appointments to federal posts are considerably worse than they were during the beginning of former President George W. Bush’s first term. After one year in office, Bush was still waiting for 70 appointees to be confirmed. Obama, however, is waiting on 176. The longest and most high-profile delays seem to be those of women. While the reasons vary for Obama’s pending confirmations, many of the delays originate with Republicans.   Miriam Sapiro, selected to be a deputy U.S. trade representative, was held up because Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky wanted to send a message from the tobacco industry: oppose Canada’s banning of flavored cigarettes like cloves, or else. Bunning reportedly relented after Democrats agreed to put a Republican, Michael Khouri, on the Federal Maritime Commission, however Sapiro remains unconfirmed nine months after her nomination.   On February 11, 2009, President Obama nominated Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is responsible for giving legal advice to the president. Republicans objected to her support for abortion rights and her criticisms of the Bush administration’s use of torture, and threatened to filibuster if the nomination came to the full Senate. The election of Scott Brown to represent Massachusetts in the Senate on January 20, 2010, may allow the Republicans to kill Johnsen’s nomination.   The nomination of Lael Brainard to be under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs (overseeing the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and issues relating to international taxes) has been held up since March 23, 2009, because Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa objected to Brainard’s initial failure to acknowledge her late payments of property taxes. The amount in question: $1,401.09. Curiously, Brainard’s husband, Kurt Campbell, flew through the confirmation process when he was nominated to head the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.   Martha Johnson’s nomination to be the administrator of the General Service Administration (GSA), which provides procurement services to federal agencies, was approved by the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works in June. But Sen. Kit Bond (R-Missouri) put a hold on Johnson’s confirmation as part of a battle in which he wants a new federal office building built in Kansas City.   The delays also affect the judicial branch. President Obama nominated Marisa Demeo for a seat on the D.C. Superior Court on March 24, 2009, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved her on May 20. However, Demeo, who is Mexican-American and lesbian, remains unconfirmed. - David Wallechinsky   Help Wanted (by Annie Lowery, Foreign Policy) Legislative Limbo Strands Many of Obama’s Nominees (by Helene Cooper, New York Times) All Obama Nominations and Appointments (White House) The Long Wait: Who is Obama GSA Nominee Martha Johnson? (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)

Airport Security Nominee Withdraws; Leadership Still Vacant: Who was Erroll Southers?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
	On Wednesday morning, January 20, 2010, the White House announced that Erroll Sothers, President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had withdrawn his name from consideration.   A former police officer and FBI agent, Erroll Southers has spent the last several years helping run security for one of the world’s busiest airports—Los Angeles International — while also teaching classes and working at an anti-terrorism center for the University of Southern California. His background would seem to be ideally suited to becoming the fifth person to oversee the TSA since its creation in 2001, however his road to confirmation proved to be a rocky one. Although President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Southers in September 2009, the position of administrator of TSA remains unfilled.   Southers attended college at Brown University, where he earned a B.S. in biology in 1978. He completed one semester of medical school before deciding to switch careers and pursue law enforcement.   He was a police officer with the Santa Monica Police Department, and rose to the rank of detective. Then, in 1984, he joined the FBI as a Special Agent, working on matters involving counterterrorism and foreign counterintelligence. He also was a member of the FBI’s SWAT Team. During this period, Southers took part in professional bodybuilding contests. Training at the World Gym in Santa Monica, he met actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He left the FBI in 1989 a few months after being censured for using confidential criminal databases to research his estranged wife’s boyfriend. It was this incident that would come back to haunt Southers when he provided misleading testimony to Congress.   Southers returned to school at USC, earning a Masters of Public Administration in 1998. He is said to have been pursuing a doctorate in policy, planning and development for several years now.   His professional experience also has included work as an executive director in the Long Beach City Manager’s Office, and serving as assistant vice president and chief of protective services for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.   In 2004, Arnold Schwarzenegger, now the governor of California, chose Southers to be Deputy Director of Homeland Security for the state of California. In this capacity, he was responsible for the oversight of counterterrorism policy and national pilot programs designed to protect the state’s critical infrastructure.   After two years, Southers returned to USC to become Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Public Policy in the School of Policy, Planning and Development, and serve as associate director at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). He has lectured at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Level IV Antiterrorism Seminars and testified before Congress regarding homeland security issues.   Southers joined the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department, the largest airport police department in the United States, as Chief of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, before taking on the title Assistant Chief for Homeland Security and Intelligence. He has been in charge of emergency services, the canine unit, vulnerability assessments, critical infrastructure protection and anti-terrorism efforts.   He founded Risk Management Consultants International, providing security consultation and expert witness testimony. His career has included creating counterterrorism studies in Israel at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Defense Forces’ Home Front Command. He was a member of the Rio Hondo Police Academy faculty and tactical staff, and is a former senior fellow at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs.   Southers is a Certified Institutional Protection manager and certified in homeland security by the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute.   On September 10, 2009, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Southers to be the administrator of TSA. Southers was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on November 19, but the next day he wrote to key committee members changing his testimony. Southers had submitted an affidavit stating that in the incident relating to his wife’s boyfriend in 1987-1988, he had asked a friend who worked for the San Diego Police Department to access criminal records about the boyfriend. This was true, but Southers himself had also conducted database searches. Southers’ apology for providing misleading testimony was accepted, but later Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) held up Southers’ confirmation on the grounds that Southers was a supporter of the unionization of TSA employees. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Erroll G. Southers (University of Southern California) Erroll Southers - Associate Director for Educational Programs (CREATE) Erroll Southers on Privacy, TSA’s Future and Unions (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post) TSA Nominee Misled Congress about Accessing Confidential Records (by Robert O’Harrow, Jr., Washington Post) Conducting a Security Evaluation (by Errol Southers, National Association of Independent Schools) Transportation Security Administration (AllGov)

Unconfirmed Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Who Is Jacqueline Berrien?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
	President Obama has turned to a veteran civil rights attorney, Jacqueline A. Berrien, to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent agency responsible for eliminating all forms of discrimination in the workplace. Although she was nominated July 17, 2009, Berrien has yet to be confirmed by the Senate,. Her nomination was greeted warmly by civil rights activists and others on the left, but at least one right-wing organization, Americans for Limited Government, has criticized Berrien as an “ideologue” who “finds racism in everything.”   Berren’s mother, Anna, spent almost thirty years as a federal employee in the field of public health, while her father, Clifford, worked for the State Department. Berrien was born in Washington, DC, in 1961. Following in her parents’ footsteps, in her senior year in high school she worked as clerk-typist for the federal government. Berrien earned a B.A. in Government from Oberlin College in 1983, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, in 1986. While at Oberlin, Berrien served an internship with the NAACP. After law school, Berrien served as a law clerk to U.W. Clemon, a 1960s-era civil rights activist who became the first African-American U.S. District Court Judge in Alabama.    Following her clerkship, in 1987 Berrien went to work as a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, and in 1989 joined its Women’s Rights Project (WRP), which had been founded by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1972. At the ACLU WRP, Berrien worked on pregnancy discrimination cases.  In May 1992, Berrien left the ACLU to work for the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C.. In August 1994 she joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), where she coordinated LDF’s work in the area of voting rights and political participation. She represented African-American voters in proceedings before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. District Courts. In November 2001, she became a Program Officer for the Ford Foundation Peace and Social Justice Program. She administered more than $13 million of grants to promote greater political participation by underrepresented groups, particularly people of color, women, and youth. In September 2004, she returned to the LDF as its new Associate Director-Counsel, where she supervised LDF’s litigation, public education, and organizational work.    Berrien has been a member of the Oberlin College Board of Trustees since 2007. She has taught trial advocacy at Harvard and Fordham law schools and has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, where she taught a course entitled Blacks and American Law. She has published several articles on race and gender discrimination issues, including “A Civil Liberties Imperative: Promoting Quality Education for All African-American Children” in the Columbia Teachers College Record (Summer 1993) and “Pregnancy and Drug Use: The Dangerous and Unequal Use of Punitive Measures,” in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism (Spring 1990).   Berrien  has lived in Brooklyn, New York, since 1987 with her husband, Peter Williams, the executive director of a community economic development corporation. A Democrat, Berrrien has contributed $3,250 to Democratic candidates since 2007, including $3,000 to Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008. -Matt Bewig   Confirmation Hearing Statement (pdf) Rediscovering Democracy: The Future of Election Law (panel transcript including Berrien) (pdf) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (AllGov)

Director of the National Institutes of Health: Who is Francis Collins?
Monday, January 18, 2010
	Francis S. Collins brings one of the more eclectic, and highly regarded, profiles to the Obama administration as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A leading figure in the completion of the Human Genome Project, which is considered one of  the most important scientific accomplishments of our time, Collins brings a wealth of scientific credentials to the post. He also possesses a religious perspective that has rubbed some of his counterparts the wrong way, along with a deep love for motorcycles and rock music. He was confirmed by the Senate August 7, 2009.   Born on April 14, 1950, Collins grew up on a small farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley along with his three brothers. His father taught at a nearby women’s college when not tending to the farm. His mother, a playwright, home schooled Collins until the sixth grade.   After graduating from Robert E. Lee High School at age 16, Collins enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he focused more on chemistry and physics than biology. He earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1970, and then attended graduate school at Yale University, attaining a PhD in physical chemistry in 1974.   While at Yale, he became fascinated with molecular biology and genetics, prompting him to attend medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his MD in 1977. This time of his life was also marked by a growing fascination with spirituality, thanks to the writings of C.S. Lewis. Although raised by parents who were not particularly religious, Collins developed a strong interest in religion, and eventually he became an evangelical Christian.   Collins performed his residency in internal medicine at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill from 1978 to 1981, before returning to Yale and being named a Fellow in Human Genetics (1981-1984). It was then that he developed innovative methods of crossing large stretches of DNA to identify disease genes.   In 1984, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan and eventually was named a Professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics. He continued to perform genetic research and develop “positional cloning,” a technique later adopted by other researchers.   Together with Lap-Chee Tsui and Jack Riordan of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Collins’ research team identified the gene for cystic fibrosis in 1989. This achievement was followed by the identification of the neurofibromatosis gene in 1990 and the defective gene that causes Huntington’s disease in 1993.   That same year, Collins took over the leadership of the government’s Human Genome Project as director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (later renamed the National Human Genome Research Institute, (NHGRI). He oversaw the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, and the following year, he founded the center’s Division of Intramural Research (DIR), which eventually became a premier research center studying human genetics.   Throughout the rest of the 1990s, Collins’ team strove to map the human genome, and in 2000, he shared the spotlight with rival scientist Craig Venter as part of President Bill Clinton’s celebratory announcement that a DNA blueprint was finally available to mankind.   In 2006 Collins published the book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. His outspokenness on religion has resulted in public arguments with other scientists who don’t share his views mixing science and spirituality.   Collins retired from the NHGRI in May 2008, although he continued to do research on a volunteer basis.   Outside of his work, Collins loves to play the guitar and ride motorcycles. While directing the NHGRI, he formed a rock band, The Directors, with other scientists working for the NIH. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Official Biography (National Institutes of Health) Francis Collins Biography (National Human Genome Research Institute) Cracking the Code of Life (Academy of Achievement) Creation or Evolution? Yes! (Interview by Stan Guthrie, Christianity Today) Interview on Colbert Nation National Institutes of Health (AllGov)

Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment: Who is Harris Sherman?
Monday, January 18, 2010
	Having had his first pick (Homer Wilkes) back out as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, President Barack Obama turned to Harris Sherman, Colorado’s longtime natural resources chief. Sherman was confirmed by the Senate October 9, 2010. Although some environmentalists expressed concern about Sherman over the state’s industry-friendly “roadless rule,” the new overseer of the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service would be hard pressed to provoke the kind of controversy that came with Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, who held the post during the Bush administration.   A native of Colorado, Harris received his Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and his law degree from Columbia University Law School.   His leadership of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began in 1975, when he was appointed by then-Governor Richard Lamm. He remained in the post until 1987, when he left state government and took a position in the Denver office of Arnold & Porter. There, he served as managing and senior partner for 20 years, focusing on natural resources, environmental, water, public land, real estate, and Indian law.   In 2007, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter asked Sherman to lead DNR once again. As executive director, he oversaw Colorado’s energy, water, wildlife, parks, and state lands programs. Harris also served as the Director of Compact Negotiations for the Colorado Interbasin Compact Commission, chairman of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and co-chair of the governor’s Forest Health Advisory Council. In addition, he was a member of the Colorado Wildlife Commission, the Colorado Ground Water Commission and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.   Sherman’s biggest controversy involved the state’s industry-friendly “roadless rule,” which sparked protests from environmentalists who favored the federal government’s more protective plan to keep logging and development out of forests. When Sherman was nominated by Obama, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership used the announcement as an opportunity to ask Sherman to uphold the federal roadless rule, and publicly disown Colorado’s version.    Other environmental groups welcomed Sherman as head of the Forest Service. “Over the past two years, Sherman showed bold leadership in protecting our land, water, and wildlife resources from the impacts of oil and gas development,” said Environment Colorado advocate Matt Garrington. “Sherman’s leadership was key in passing strong protections of our natural resources in the face of unbalanced energy development.”   Sherman has also served on a wide variety of public and private agencies and organizations. He has been chairman of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board, and the Denver Regional Air Quality Council. He has served as a Commissioner of Mines and commissioner of the Denver Water Board, as well as a trustee of Colorado College and the Boettcher Foundation.   For several decades, Sherman has been active in land conservation efforts with the Nature Conservancy, Colorado Open Lands, and The Trust for Public Land. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Harris D. Sherman, Executive Director (Colorado Department of Natural Resources) Love It, Hate It: Conservationists Split on Sherman Pick to Head USFS (by David O. Williams, Colorado Independent)

Ambassador to The Netherlands: Who is Fay Hartog Levin?
Sunday, January 17, 2010
	Yet another Chicagoan tapped by President Barack Obama, Fay Hartog Levin is a longtime Democratic activist and fundraiser and an early supporter of the president’s who also has family roots in the Netherlands. Levin was sworn in August 13, 2009, and presented her credentials to Queen Beatrix six days later.   Hartog Levin’s parents, Ada and Jo, were Dutch Jews who lived in The Hague and owned a meat-processing factory in Oss when World War II broke out. They fled to Suriname, then a Dutch colony, where her father served in the Dutch army. In 1948, the family emigrated to the U.S., where their daughter was born shortly afterwards. The family eventually settled in the Chicago area.   A resident of Winnetka, Hartog Levin graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Russian language and literature. She received her JD from Loyola University School of Law.   Her legal career began as an attorney for Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson, primarily representing school boards, private and public colleges, and social service agencies. Her specialties were school and employment law, handling cases in the areas of first amendment rights, AIDS in schools, teachers’ strikes, and school district boundary changes.   Hartog Levin then served as a legal advisor to the Illinois State Board of Education, advising the State Superintendent and Regional Superintendents of Education on the interpretation and application of the Illinois School Code.   She moved over to Chicago’s Field Museum in 1997, where she was the vice president for external affairs until 2005. In that capacity, she led the museum’s campaign that raised more than $60 million through grants from city, state and federal agencies. She was the museum’s liaison to the city of Chicago and led the museum’s outreach activities to community organizations. She also supervised the Department of Public Services, human resources and information technology for the museum.   Hartog Levin joined the Res Publica Group, a Chicago-based public affairs and media relations firm, as a senior consultant. At Res Publica, she advised clients on internal and external communications and relationship building, with an emphasis on the non-profit and cultural sector. She assisted non-profits to develop strategic partnerships and increase their support among audiences and donors.   She was a member of the board of directors of Arts Alliance Illinois from 1997 until her appointment as ambassador, and served as chairman 2006-2008. She also served as vice chair of the board of directors of the Merit School of Music and as a trustee of DePaul University. She has been a member of the advisory board of U.S. Bank in Chicago, and previously served on the boards of Columbia College Chicago and the North Suburban Special Education District Foundation.   Hartog Levin is wel- connected politically to Obama and other Democrats in Washington. Her husband, Daniel Levin, is the founder of the East Bank Club and chairman of The Habitat Company, a real estate firm where Valerie Jarrett, now a White House senior advisor, was the president and CEO. Her husband’s cousins are Michigan Democrats Carl Levin (U.S. Senator) and Sandy Levin (congressman).   Hartog Levin and her husband have donated more than a half million dollars to Democratic candidates since 2003, including more than $30,000 for campaign funds controlled by President Obama, according to CampaignMoney.com and The Washington Post.   The Levins have two children. -Noel Brinkerhoff   New US Ambassador has Roots in the Netherlands (NRC Handelsblad) Confirmation Hearing Testimony Another Chicagoan, Fay Hartog Levin, Tapped for Obama Ambassadorship (by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times) Fay Hartog Levin Biography (Res Publica)  Netherlands (AllGov)

Airport Security Leadership Still Vacant: Who is Erroll Southers?
Friday, January 15, 2010
	A former police officer and FBI agent, Erroll Southers has spent the last several years helping run security for one of the world’s busiest airports—Los Angeles International — while also teaching classes and working at an anti-terrorism center for the University of Southern California. His background would seem to be ideally suited to becoming the fifth person to oversee the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) since its creation in 2001, however his road to confirmation has been a rocky one. Although President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Southers in September 2009, the position of administrator of TSA remains unfilled.   Southers attended college at Brown University, where he earned a B.S. in biology in 1978. He completed one semester of medical school before deciding to switch careers and pursue law enforcement.   He was a police officer with the Santa Monica Police Department, and rose to the rank of detective. Then, in 1984, he joined the FBI as a Special Agent, working on matters involving counterterrorism and foreign counterintelligence. He also was a member of the FBI’s SWAT Team. During this period, Southers took part in professional bodybuilding contests. Training at the World Gym in Santa Monica, he met actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He left the FBI in 1989 a few months after being censured for using confidential criminal databases to research his estranged wife’s boyfriend. It was this incident that would come back to haunt Southers when he provided misleading testimony to Congress.   Southers returned to school at USC, earning a Masters of Public Administration in 1998. He is said to have been pursuing a doctorate in policy, planning and development for several years now.   His professional experience also has included work as an executive director in the Long Beach City Manager’s Office, and serving as assistant vice president and chief of protective services for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.   In 2004, Arnold Schwarzenegger, now the governor of California, chose Southers to be Deputy Director of Homeland Security for the state of California. In this capacity, he was responsible for the oversight of counterterrorism policy and national pilot programs designed to protect the state’s critical infrastructure.   After two years, Southers returned to USC to become Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Public Policy in the School of Policy, Planning and Development, and serve as associate director at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). He has lectured at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Level IV Antiterrorism Seminars and testified before Congress regarding homeland security issues.   Southers joined the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department, the largest airport police department in the United States, as Chief of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, before taking on the title Assistant Chief for Homeland Security and Intelligence. He has been in charge of emergency services, the canine unit, vulnerability assessments, critical infrastructure protection and anti-terrorism efforts.   He founded Risk Management Consultants International, providing security consultation and expert witness testimony. His career has included creating counterterrorism studies in Israel at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Defense Forces’ Home Front Command. He was a member of the Rio Hondo Police Academy faculty and tactical staff, and is a former senior fellow at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs.   Southers is a Certified Institutional Protection manager and certified in homeland security by the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute.   On September 10, 2009, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Southers to be the administrator of TSA. Southers was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on November 19, but the next day he wrote to key committee members changing his testimony. Southers had submitted an affidavit stating that in the incident relating to his wife’s boyfriend in 1987-1988, he had asked a friend who worked for the San Diego Police Department to access criminal records about the boyfriend. This was true, but Southers himself had also conducted database searches. Southers’ apology for providing misleading testimony was accepted, but later Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) held up Southers’ confirmation on the grounds that Southers was a supporter of the unionization of TSA employees. -Noel Brinkerhoff   Erroll G. Southers (University of Southern California) Erroll Southers - Associate Director for Educational Programs (CREATE) Erroll Southers on Privacy, TSA’s Future and Unions (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post) TSA Nominee Misled Congress about Accessing Confidential Records (by Robert O’Harrow, Jr., Washington Post) Conducting a Security Evaluation (by Errol Southers, National Association of Independent Schools) Transportation Security Administration (AllGov)