CAPPS-II overseer finally gets the spotlight

In November 2003 I reported on the skeletons in the closet of Stephen Thayer, who has been acting director of the Transportation Security Administration’s Office of National Risk Assessment (ONRA) since the retirement in February 2004 of former ONRA Director (and architect of CAPPS-II) Ben H. Bell, Jr. (I’ve also written previously about Thayer’s past working relationship with TSA Privacy Officer Lisa Dean.)

Today, almost a year after his appointment, Thayer finally gets mainstream press scrutiny as the overseer of The Program Formerly Known As CAPPS-II.

I’m quoted in the full version of today’s AP story in USA Today and a few other places — “Edward Hasbrouck, a San Francisco travel agent who disclosed that CAPPS II contractors had obtained passenger data from JetBlue Airways, said Thayer ‘has no apparent technical expertise’” — although most papers seem to have run shorter edited versions without that line.