Following are stories from the West County Times and the Orlando Sentinel about former Richmond Police Chief Joseph Samuels accepting a Federal security appointment at Orlando International Airport.

WEST COUNTY TIMES, July 1, 2004

Richmond

Former police chief takes federal post

Former Richmond Police Chief Joseph Samuels Jr. will take a federal security post at Orlando International Airport in Florida this summer, a U.S. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

Samuels, who resigned under pressure in August from his Richmond job, will serve as a deputy federal security adviser, TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover said. Samuels previously served as police chief in Oakland and Fresno.

Stover said Samuels' hire will be formally announced in Florida on Aug. 9.

ORLANDO SENTINEL

Security chief leaves OIA post

By Richard Burnett
Sentinel Staff Writer

July 2, 2004

The nation's transportation security agency is overhauling the senior security team at Orlando International Airport, moving a former airline industry veteran into the top management slot, federal officials said Thursday.

On the way out is Charles Lutz, the airport's federal security director since mid-2002, who will become an operations executive at Transportation Security Administration headquarters in Northern Virginia.

Agency officials said Lutz is being transferred as part of an effort to bring more field experts into the headquarters operation.

Replacing Lutz will be Art Meinke, currently the airport's deputy security director and a former general manager of United Airlines' operations at Miami International Airport.

And, in the most intriguing move, the agency hired career law enforcement official Joseph Samuels Jr. as OIA's next deputy security director. Samuels, a past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, is a former police chief for several Bay Area cities in California, including Oakland and, most recently, Richmond.

Samuels' career has been marked by controversy in recent years. Last year, he resigned under pressure from the Richmond City Council, which criticized his "hands-off" management style and lack of progress in lowering the crime rate.

Some community leaders applauded his efforts, and the city itself recognized his work on an anti-blight campaign, training advances and disaster/terrorism preparedness. But the city's positive recommendation came as part of its severance pact with Samuels, in which he agreed not to sue the municipality.

Federal officials said they examined his background and found no negative issues relevant to his job at Orlando International.

"Whatever the circumstances were in his departure from the previous position, it was not performance-related but rather because of local political issues," said Lauren Stover, a TSA spokeswoman.

She said the agency expects the new management team to benefit from combining Samuels' law enforcement expertise with Meinke's aviation industry experience. Before joining the team at Orlando International last year, Meinke helped lead a major expansion of United's Miami hub.

"We see tremendous value in having a person with that kind of aviation background paired with someone who has a strong law enforcement background," Stover said.

Neither Meinke nor Samuels could be reached for comment.

Although Meinke's experience could prove to be a strong asset, critics of the TSA remain skeptical.

"Overall, the agency continues to be an odd mix of dysfunctional management," said David Forbes, an aviation-security expert with The Boyd Group, a consulting firm based in Denver. "From the early days, the security director and assistant positions were filled by people not necessarily because of their expertise in aviation, but for their experience in law enforcement, the Secret Service and other areas."

Meinke will take over when Lutz reports for orientation in his new job at the security agency's headquarters. The new hires will become official in early August.

OIA officials said they expect the transition to be smooth.

"We wish Mr. Lutz much success in his next position, and we will continue to work with the airlines and TSA in providing an efficient passenger-screening process at Orlando International," said Bob Raffel, senior director of public safety at the airport.

The departing Lutz said he felt a strong sense of accomplishment from his work in Orlando, where he took over a fledgling organization at the airport and put together a staff of more than 1,000 security professionals.

"We made all our deadlines here, and I think we are among the top major airports in the country in terms of passenger screening and overall security," he said.

Richard Burnett can be reached at rburnett@orlandosentinel.comor 407-420-5256.