Judge Who Resigned Under Cloud Helps Run Homeland Security Anti-Terrorism Project
By Michael J. Sniffen and LESLIE MILLER Associated Press Writers
Published: Jul 29, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - A top manager of the Bush administration's troubled anti-terrorism project to use computers for screening airline passengers had resigned from the New Hampshire Supreme Court to avoid prosecution over his conduct on the bench.
W. Stephen Thayer III quit New Hampshire's high court in 2000 in a deal with prosecutors and is now serving as deputy chief of the Transportation Security Administration's Office of National Risk Assessment.
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The administration's selection of Thayer - with no fanfare - has raised some eyebrows because he was accused of trying to interfere with the selection of a judge in his divorce case and of threatening other judges.
"To appoint someone who had to resign in public disgrace in lieu of being indicted is incredibly offensive," said Charles Lewis, executive director the Center for Public Integrity, a private ethics watchdog. CAPPS II has been "one of the most sensitive projects in the U.S. government," because "we are talking about data-mining the records of millions of Americans. The people in charge have got to be beyond reproach in every way."
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