John S. Pistole

Transportation Security Administrator (since June 2010)

(Brendan Smialowski
Getty Images)

Why He Matters

When he accepted the top job at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Pistole took over a troubled agency. Charged with screening airline passengers for threats to safety, the TSA was created in the wake of 9/11 and has been one of the most visible and most criticized agencies in the Department of Homeland Security.

Pistole was the third throw of the dice for Barack Obama in a job the president had called the most important unfilled one in his administration. The president's two previous choices to head TSA withdrew their nominations, and the agency was without a permanent head for 16 months. Pistole was finally confirmed for the job in summer 2010.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2004 to June 2010); Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI; Deputy Assistant Director of Operations at the Counterterrorism Division
Hometown: Anderson, Ind.
Alma Mater: Anderson University, B.A., 1978; Indiana University School of Law, J.D., 1981
Spouse: Kathy

Religion: Christian
DC Office: J. Edgar Hoover Building 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20535-0001; Phone: (202) 324-3000
Web site

Path to Power

Pistole grew up in a religious household in Indiana. His father was a pastor, his mother a school teacher. As a teenager, Pistole chafed against the straight and narrow path his parents had followed, until, in his senior year of high school, a car accident set him straight, he said in 2005.

He entered Anderson University, a Christian college in Indiana, where his father taught theology, with a newly-discovered focus, and by his sophomore year had decided he would pursue public service. He focused on American studies and pre-law courses, and interned on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and at the Indiana State Assembly.

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Pistole jumped directly from college to law school and in 1981, he began practicing law. Within two years, however, he had leveraged his law background into a job with the FBI. By 1983, he was working in a division office in Minnesota, his first prolonged stint living outside Indiana.

FBI Agent

Pistole's career in law enforcement began with a focus on organized and violent crime. He spent two years in Minneapolis, honing his skills, before being transferred to New York, where his stint culminated in the 1990 arrest of Vincent Gigante, the top boss of the Genovese crime family.

After that catch, his bosses sent him to Washington, as a supervisor in the organized crime division at FBI headquarters. He returned to Indiana in 1994, to supervise a team working on white-collar crime and civil-rights issues. He investigated, for instance, the Indianapolis Police Department for corruption, after a police officer was convicted of shooting a suspected drug dealer, coordinating with agencies like the DEA and with local law enforcement.

In 1999, he was offered a promotion that would take him to Boston, to continue work on white-collar crime and computer hacking. He struggled at the time, he said later, with a decision that would take him away from Indiana, where his family was concentrated.

But he took the opportunity, worked cases like the crash of a 1999 Egypt Air flight, and in July 2001 was called back to Washington for a job in the inspection division, which audits an FBI field office. In September, al-Qaeda attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers, and by the next April, Pistole began working full time on counte-terrorism.

Counterterrorism

As the deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism unit, Pistole helped grow the agency's counterterrorism efforts. The counterterrorism staff numbered 200 when he began; during his time in the office it grew to more than 1,000.

Pistole was able to import his experience investigating organized crime to his new job, he told the Indianapolis Star in 2002. "There are similarities in structure, chain of command, operational orders," he said. He quickly moved up within the counterterrorism unit. Two years later, he was promoted to the number two position in the FBI, deputy director - essentially, the chief operating officer of the agency.

Pistole's new responsibilities took him further afield than ever before. In 2003, he worked to investigate the suicide bombing of housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; in 2006, he worked on the liquid explosives plot in the United Kingdom. He also was involved in overseeing the investigation of a terrorist plot targeting New York subways; the underwear bomber attempting the downing of a Northwest Airlines Detroit-bound airplane in December 2008; and the attempted car bombing in Times Square.

Before President Obama tapped him for the TSA, Pistole was in the running for the top spot at the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Issues

The TSA has struggled since its inception with balancing ease of travel and privacy with its security mission.

Airport Body-Scanners

In fall 2010, Pistole and the TSA drew scathing criticism for the use of scanners that show screeners fairly-detailed pictures of travelers' bodies. In 2010, the alternative -- pat-downs more thorough than travelers had ever been exposed to before -- also provoked an outcry.

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The Network

At the FBI, Pistole worked closely with FBI Director Robert Mueller. Timothy Murphy replaced him there.

Additional Resources