Bogdan Dzakovic is a former leader of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Red Team. Prior to 9/11, this elite, counterterrorism unit tested aviation security in airports around the world. Dzakovic was the unit’s leader from 1995 until September 11, 2001. For several years prior to the 9/11 attacks, Dzakovic tried to improve aviation security in the face of the ever-increasing terrorist threat. He sent reports through the established chain of command, as well as to the Department of Transportation (Office of Inspector General) and the General Accountability Office. When the gravity of his reports fell upon deaf ears, he notified members in both houses of Congress.
In October 2001, Dzakovic filed a Whistleblower Protection Act disclosure complaint against the FAA. Once the complaint was received, he was immediately removed from his Red Team leadership position. He now works for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As reported in USA Today, his current assignments include tasks such as hole-punching, updating agency phonebooks, and “thumb-twiddling”.
A former Coast Guard Officer and Federal Criminal Investigator, Dzakovic has a graduate degree in Security Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been the subject of hundreds of articles on aviation security and has appeared in several documentary films on the subject. In 2003, he testified at the 9/11 Commission Hearings.
(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
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