Transportation secretary resigns

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who helped rebuild confidence in U.S. airports and flying after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Friday he's leaving the Bush administration.

"It is time for me to move on to other challenges," Mineta said in a letter to President Bush.

White House press secretary Tony Snow announced the July 7 resignation. Asked why Mineta, 74, decided to leave, Snow said, "Because he wanted to."

"He was not being pushed out," Snow said. "As a matter of fact, the president and the vice president and others were happy with him. He put in five and half years — that's enough time."

Bush said Mineta — the only Democrat in his Cabinet — played a vital leadership role in strengthening the security of seaports and airports.

"Norm worked hard to help eliminate red tape and liberalize the commercial aviation market," Bush said in a statement. "After Hurricane Katrina, Norm and his team were able to rapidly repair and reopen the region's major highways, airports, seaports and pipelines."

There had been speculation for years that Mineta was on the verge of quitting, sometimes because of his health and sometimes because or rumors about a shake-up of Bush's Cabinet.

Instead, Mineta became the longest-serving transportation secretary since the department was formed in 1967.

He is one of only three original Bush Cabinet members still serving. The others are Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

After the Sept. 11 hijackings, Mineta oversaw the hasty creation of the much-maligned Transportation Security Administration, which took over responsibility for aviation security from the airlines.

Under orders from Congress, the TSA hired tens of thousands of airport screeners, put air marshals on commercial flights and installed high-tech equipment to screen air travelers and their luggage for bombs — all within a year.

The effort involved huge cost overruns, wasteful spending, long lines at big airports and too many screeners at small ones.

Mineta, though, escaped criticism for the TSA's blunders.

"It's kind of hard to fault the guy," said James Carafano, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.