TSA Expands International Security -- Forms 'Office of Global Strategies'

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today announced the creation of the Office of Global Strategies. The mission of this office is to increase security by working proactively with our foreign partners and overseas operations affecting the U.S. The new office will be led by Bill Gaches, a 30-year veteran of the intelligence community. Gaches will oversee the agency's transportation security administration representatives (TSARs), who serve as official TSA representatives across the world. TSARs serve the agency in foreign countries and work closely with their governments to improve international transportation security. TSA also has an experienced corps of aviation security experts based abroad with regulatory and inspection responsibility. Their talents can meaningfully increase security measures in cooperation with airlines and other governments.

"This new office represents the continuing maturation of TSA," said Kip Hawley, TSA administrator. "Over the past two years, we have been able to significantly strengthen our relationships with our international transportation security partners through increased communications, information sharing and best practices. The formation of the Office of Global Strategies further represents our commitment to ensuring the highest level of transportation security possible both here in the U.S. and abroad and illustrates the importance of cooperation with our international partners."

Examples of international cooperation that the Office of Global Strategies aims to increase and strengthen include: common strategies on screening liquids, aerosols and gels, implementing advanced technologies and intelligence sharing.

Prior to accepting the position of assistant administrator of the Office of Global Strategies, Gaches served as the assistant administrator of TSA's Office of Intelligence. He has also served with the National Counterterrorism Center and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center during his 30-plus year career in the U.S. intelligence community.

For more information about TSA, please visit our Web site at www.tsa.gov.