A Government Watchdog Who Led the Pack

"I am going to miss him," said Sarah McLeod, a lobbyist for the airlines' contract maintenance companies, whose industry was the subject of several Mead reports. "He appreciated good dialogue. If you disagreed with him, it was okay. It wasn't personal," she said.

Mead won high praise from Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta for mobilizing the IG's office after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to focus on assessing the nation's airport security system and make recommendations to quickly improve it.

Mead's office on the ninth floor of the Transportation Department building in Southwest provides an expansive view of the Potomac River and Reagan National Airport. Even today, Mead said, it reminds him of the scene that unfolded on the morning of the attacks, when the smoke from the Pentagon began to block his view on one side and airplanes, complying with the government's order to land immediately, zoomed in one after another at the airport.

His biggest regret, Mead said, was not pushing enough on air security before the attacks. Mead's office had issued reports outlining egregious breaches at various airports, but little was done. Before the attacks, one of his investigators was able to pass undetected through security carrying a briefcase that contained a knife, a fake pack of dynamite and a clock, set up to resemble a bomb. The investigator also was able to walk through an "employees only" door out to the tarmac and onto a plane.

"The way 9/11 was pulled off, it was not something the security system in place was designed to prevent," Mead said. "But even things it was designed to prevent, it wasn't doing a good job."

After Sept. 11, Mead exchanged heated letters with the head of the airline lobby when the industry balked at paying what Mead considered to be its share for security. But that only won him admirers among consumer and taxpayer advocates.

Some of Mead's biggest fans were members of Congress, who relied on him not only for his direct approach but also for advice, said Ross Capon, head of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.

"They're basically saying 'Help us! We don't know what to do'" when it came to Amtrak, Capon said. "These are congressmen who feel stumped by the issue and they wanted Ken to solve the problems for them. They wanted him to tell them what to do ... which is a much bigger role" than inspector general," he said. "Ken never backed down from that broader role."