The head of the Transportation Security Administration agency will take over the Department of Homeland Security on a temporary basis until President Biden’s nominee can be confirmed by the Senate.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske announced Wednesday that he moved over to DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., until Alejandro Mayorkas is confirmed as secretary. Pekoske previously worked as deputy secretary at DHS in 2019 after Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned and Kevin McAleenan was made acting secretary.
“Welcomed today at @DHSHQ HQ as Acting Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security until Mr. Mayorkas is confirmed. Thank you to the men and women across the Department for your commitment to the DHS mission!” Pekoske wrote in a post to Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
Welcomed today at @DHSgov HQ as Acting Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security until Mr. Mayorkas is confirmed. Thank you to the men and women across the Department for your commitment to the DHS mission! pic.twitter.com/EOJumELq7T
— David P. Pekoske (@TSA_Pekoske) January 20, 2021
Pete Gaynor was made acting secretary of DHS last week after acting Secretary Chad Wolf abruptly resigned. Gaynor oversees the DHS agency Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In June 2017, then-President Donald Trump nominated Pekoske to head TSA, and he was confirmed. His peers praised him a year into his role for turning around airport security checkpoint wait times and boosting morale among the agency’s 50,000 employees.
Pekoske, 65, in 2010 concluded 33 years in the military, finishing as vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. The guard is the only one of the five military branches that is under DHS instead of the Defense Department.
