Rail officials among appointees to TSA advisory committee

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has appointed nine people as voting members of the Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee (STSAC).

With two new members and seven reappointed, the STSAC now has 30 voting members, TSA officials said in a press release.

The new members are Christopher Hand, director of research for the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalman; and Kaitlyn Holmecki, senior manager of international trade and security policy for the American Trucking Association.

Reappointed to the board are:
• Jared Cassity, chief of safety and alternate national legislative director of SMART Transportation;
• James Cook, assistant police chief at Amtrak;
• Brian Harrell, vice president and chief security officer at AVANGRID;
• Norma Kraymen, vice president and chair of privacy and digital innovation practice group at Van Scoyoc Associates;
• Robert Mims, director of technology security, Southern Co. Gas;
• Christopher Trucillo, police chief at New Jersey Transit; and
• Lowell Williams, CEO at Cold Iron Security.

STSAC members represent freight rail, highways, mass transit, over-the-road bus, passenger rail, pipelines, the school bus industry and trucking.

The committee also has 14 nonvoting members who serve in an advisory capacity for two-year terms. They are from the departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security and Transportation, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.