Indiana's Melvin Carraway Bounced From Job Heading TSA

Obviously nobody did any background check on former Indiana State Police Supt. Melvin Carraway or he would have never landed the job as administrator of the Transportation Safety Administration ("TSA"). Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson removed Carraway from his job after media reports revealed that checkpoint screeners failed to detect mock explosives and weapons in 95 percent of tests carried out by undercover agents.

. . . Johnson said in a statement that Melvin Carraway would be reassigned to serve in the Office of State and Local Law Enforcement at Department of Homeland Security headquarters, while TSA Acting Deputy Director Mark Hatfield would lead the agency until a new acting administrator was appointed.

Airport screeners, who are employees of the TSA, did not detect banned weapons in 67 of 70 tests at dozens of airports, ABC News said, citing officials briefed on a report by Homeland Security's inspector general.

Johnson, whose department oversees the TSA, was briefed last week on the trials, which were completed recently, ABC News said.

In one test, the network said an undercover agent was stopped when he set off an alarm at a checkpoint but that TSA screeners then failed to find a fake explosive device taped to his back when they patted him down.

Johnson issued a statement on Monday saying the results of the security checks were classified but that he had directed the TSA to revise screening procedures "to address specific vulnerabilities identified" in the undercover operation. He also ordered training for all TSA officers and supervisors across the country and testing of airports' screening equipment . . .

It is common knowledge Carraway only landed the job heading the Indiana State Police because he's a cousin to Ice Miller lobbyist Lacy Johnson, who is renowned for boasting about his clout in law enforcement and intelligence communities. One must surmise that Johnson's clout played a key role in landing Carraway the top job at the TSA. Recall that Carraway was at the center of a serious ethics probe from the time he served as ISP's superintendent. Here's a WTHR report on that ethics flap back in 2005:

The former leadership of the Indiana State Police is now under fire for how they handled agency money. A 72-page audit of ISP now goes to the prosecutor and grand jury. The audit found widespread money and accountability problems at the top of the State Police force.

The State Police Memorial is a place to honor those killed in the line of duty. The audit questions how State Police paid for it and the running of this museum. The audit says State Police set up non-profits counter to state law. It also says they transferred a $93,000 donation to the pension fund and $47,000 from specialty license plate fees to the memorial foundation, again without proper authority.

The audit also found lax oversight on credit card purchases and employees given inappropriate cash advances for meals on trips.

The questionable practices occurred when former superintendent Mel Carraway and former assistant Cody Johnson ran the department under the Kernan administration. It was new Superintendent Paul Whitesell who requested the audit.

ISP's Dave Bursten said Whitesell wanted to have a better understanding of "where things were on the books so he could better understand the issues." Bursten said Whitesell began taking corrective action before auditors finished the report, such as hiring a full-time controller.

While he won't comment on specific findings, he says the report in no way should reflect badly on officers. "There's not a question of anyone stealing money," Bursten said. "It's more an issue of how things are accounted for."

Attorneys for Carraway, Johnson and Major Phillip Parker issued a statement in their defense Wednesday. "An objective review of the evidence clearly shows that at no time did any of these gentlemen engage in any improprieties or illegal or unethical conduct...These allegations of misconduct simply do not hold up under any level of scrutiny."

This is just another example of what a fraud the entire Patriot Act/National Security regime has become post 9/11. As luck would have it, Carraway's ethics case was turned over to former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi to investigate, who never met a public corruption case he would prosecute. He was too busy using his friendship with Ponzi schemer Tim Durham to live the life of a playboy and brokering deals with his political cronies to make money off insider real estate deals.