DATE: March 19, 2021
TO: All personnel: LGA, HPN, ISP, SWF
FROM: Robert A. Duffy, Federal Security Director: LGA, HPN, ISP, SWF
SUBJECT: Weekly Update
As of this week, I see that the number of our personnel who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 has grown significantly. I highly encourage all of you to seriously consider receiving the vaccination to protect yourselves and your loved ones at home from becoming ill with the virus. Not being one to advise you to take an action I am not willing to take, I received my first of two vaccinations earlier this week and did not have any side effects. Having had the virus one year ago, I recommend being vaccinated over getting sick with COVID-19.
I want to take this opportunity to recognize some of our people who have either promoted or moved into new positions. Congratulations to Robert Gjonaj for his promotion to DAFSD where he will be responsible for Terminals C and D. Nathan Chase has left his I-Band K-9 Team Manager position to assume the position of Acting DAFSD – Threat Assessment Programs (TAP) where he will be responsible for the K-9 Unit, TSS-E Unit, ATLAS and VIPR. Cathelle Carrillo has left the Scheduling Unit to start in our Compliance Unit. Javier Mejia has joined Human Resources. Shirley DuJour and Indiana Lopez have both joined the Scheduling Unit and Carlos Acevedo has also joined Scheduling until this summer.
For all Bargaining Unit Employees, the next LGA shift bid will start on Monday, April 5. On Wednesday, April 21, the LGA Supervisors will conduct their shift bid. These shift bids will afford us to have everyone in place for the peak summer season. We expect this summer to busier than last year but not to the record breaking summer of 2019 level.
A number of you at LGA have asked about Spirit moving to Terminal A. Spirit Airlines is only moving their Florida destination flights to Terminal A. All other Spirit flights will stay in Terminal C. Jet Blue is staying in Terminal A.
Keeping with the theme of change, the TSA Human Capital Office will be changing from the HRAccess system that we are all familiar with, to a new service called ServU. Our HR team is attending the transition training for ServU so they will be able to effectively manage all of your needs in the new system. The last day for personnel actions in HRAccess is March 27. The migration of information from HRAccess to ServU will take place over the weekend of April 2-4. ServU will become fully operational effective April 18. Please be patient with any HR needs during the transition time.
I enjoyed a very good visit to our team at ISP yesterday. ISP has started to see some modest increases in passenger volume which is expected to continue as we progress into spring and eventually the summer. We are seeing similar increases in passenger volume and the expansion of flight schedules at HPN. Our team in HR has an excellent hiring plan and are all working hard to ensure all four of our airports are fully staffed for the peak summer season which begins the last week of June. In addition to the hiring of new officers, we are also converting part-time officers to full-time status for those who are interested in working full time.
Later this year we expect to see some opportunities for promotion. This year we are planning to initiate new procedures to help candidates for any competitive selection process to improve their chances. There are three aspects to the new process and they are all designed to prepare candidates in advance to the start of a selection process. These following steps are all voluntary. We are going to establish study groups, offer resume writing assistance and conduct mock oral board interviews. Many people find it helpful to study with other people, so study groups will address that need. The study groups will be at the airport since some of the material needed for study is obviously SSI and can’t leave the airport. HR provides assistance with writing quality resumes. This is an area that has never been used as much as it should since resume review is a common portion of most selection processes. A well written resume will gain an applicant valuable points during the resume review of a selection process. The mock oral boards will afford candidates the ability to sit in front of a panel of three leaders and answer questions germane to the position being sought. While the questions will obviously not be the questions used in the actual interviews, this exercise will provide candidates with helpful feedback about how effectively they communicate and articulate their answers and how effectively they present themselves to an interview panel. Going through a practice run with a mock oral board helps candidates improve their interview skills and helps place them at ease during the actual interview. More information will come out prior to the formal announcement of a selection process.
We are starting to provide ongoing leadership training to all of our people who are in positions of leadership at all four of our airports. Training will be provided to specific leadership positions as well as entire chains of command. This effort is designed to improve the quality of our leadership to everyone. You all deserve the best leadership possible, and this initiative is designed to address that need. Leadership sessions began this week with the managers at HPN, ISP, SWF and LGA. Mission Support also held a leadership training session for all unit supervisors. Any winning organization has strong and effective leadership at all levels. That is the intent of this initiative; to develop effective and professional leaders from LTSO to our AFSDs.
I told everyone at ISP yesterday, I am here to serve all of you; you are not here to serve me. I expect that same approach to leadership from every leader at LGA, HPN, ISP and SWF. We are here to set all of you up for success in carrying out the TSA mission every day, for success in your careers and for success in your lives. We are also here to prepare those of you who desire to move up to higher levels of authority and responsibility, to be successful leaders in any position of leadership you hold in the future. The future leaders of our four airports should all come from you, working your way up through the ranks and learning the important lessons that each level of leadership teaches you.
Positive, quality leadership needs to be worked on continuously. As with physical exercise, the continuous emphasis and focus on good leadership through training and mentoring will develop excellent leaders who are competent, professional, effective men and women who are worthy of your trust and confidence. Without a constant emphasis on leadership, as with physical exercise, it will backslide and become weak. As I wrote in a previous update earlier in the winter, and I presented this to our LTSO training classes last fall, all leaders are being judged daily by our subordinates on three traits: Character, Virtue and Honor. A person of good character is a person who is honest and has integrity. Integrity is so important that the TSA sees fit to stich that word on our uniform patch as a constant reminder of this important trait. Character has been best described a doing what is right when no one is watching. Virtue means to have high moral standards. Virtue is not a commonly used term in these times as we see a degradation of moral standards in today’s society, but virtue for centuries has always been a highly regarded and respected personal trait in a leader. Honor means to adhere to what is right. Examples of honor are to return change to a cashier who mistakenly gave you too much money back from a purchase; following through on your word to do something for someone else; holding a door open for someone else; or simply returning a shopping cart in a parking lot to the store or the corral for the carts rather than leaving it in the parking lot to roll into someone else’s car. Leadership is a tool to influence people to accomplish a desired goal or end state. In and of itself, it is neither good or bad. The character of the leader is what counts. By being a person of good character, virtue and honor will set a leader up to be a positive leader for the good of all and be a positive influence on people which is what our goal is for our leaders at LGA, HPN, ISP and SWF. There are many historical examples of bad people who were effective leaders, but lacked good character, virtue and honor. Hitler and Stalin are examples.
Thank you all for your service to our Nation. Over the past year we have seen the world change in ways we never envisioned. We have overcome the challenges presented to us without a guide book to follow. We have been called upon to write the guide book this past year. Your perseverance and fortitude are admirable, and your positive attitudes have been inspiring. There is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together, determined to succeed. Thank you again and keep up the great work.
Respectfully,
Bob Duffy
