Deputy Homeland Security Chief to Retire

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- James Loy, the No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department and former head of the Transportation Security Administration, is retiring, the agency announced Monday.

Loy will remain on the job until March 1 or until a successor is confirmed by the Senate. His resignation, coupled with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's planned Feb. 1 departure, means the 180,000-person agency will be without its two top officials.

Ridge thanked Loy for his service, saying "his presence, leadership and counsel have been invaluable to the country."

Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, said he was concerned by the dual resignations.

"The loss of two key leaders in rapid succession has to be worrisome and replacements of their caliber will be hard to find," he said.

President Bush's original choice to replace Ridge, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, withdrew his name after acknowledging he had employed an illegal alien as a nanny and failed to make required Social Security payments. Bush has yet to make another choice.

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