The Transportation Security Administration has named Pete Garcia Federal Security Director in charge of TSA operations at Orlando International Airport. This comes more than a year after the suicide of Transportation Security Officer Rob Henry.
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Garcia stepped into the role last April, when former security Director Jerry Henderson was placed on leave.
TSA officer Rob Henry jumped to his death at the airport on February 2, 2019.
Henry’s mother Sylvia Henry says Garcia has already worked to change the toxic workplace culture at the airport.
“I’m very pleased for Mr. Garcia to be the new FSD of Orlando. I’m very proud of Robert for forcing everyone to see what was going on in Orlando at TSA. We all, our whole family misses him very much.”
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She says under Garcia, TSOs feel like they can come forward if they're having problems.
“It seems that Mr. Garcia has really instituted basically an open-door policy as I understand it. That if they see something wrong, they can bring it to his attention. And they’re doing so. And that is just a gazillion times better than what was going on before.”
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Since Rob Henry’s death, TSA has installed a suicide prevention program at the Orlando International Airport.
An internal investigation by the agency found that neither bullying nor the federal government shutdown caused Rob Henry’s death. TSA agents who WMFE interviewed for the series "TSA in Turmoil" said Henry was bullied at work.
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