The Man Behind The Checkpoint
Airport security. To the vast majority of us, that means strolling through metal detectors, empyting our pockets and, if we're the unlucky ones, wands waving around our outstretched arms. But for the people ultimately responsible for our safety, the screening system has been a challenging understanding.
"After 9/11 there were congressional mandates to take over the screening of airline passengers and checked baggage," says Charles Lutz, Directory, Operations Support Division, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security. 
"What had been the responsibility of airports and air carriers now became a federal responsibility under the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). And we were faced with the challenge of transforming what was a dead-end minimum wage job into a serious professional opportunity."
Lutz says that his own educational opportunity at Penn State remains the single most important influence in his life and has enabled him to take on the considerable challenges that have marked his thirty-year career in law enforcement. The first person in his family to attend college, Lutz arrived at Penn State unsure of what to pursue and decided that liberal arts would give him the best overview. He soon discovered an interest in government and decided to major in political science. In the ROTC while at Penn State, Lutz was commissioned as a second lieutenant and spent a year in Viet Nam in army intelligence—earning a Bronze Star—after he graduated. The experience there, he says, was invaluable.
"As a military officer, I had the opportunity to demonstrate discipline and leadership ability," he recalls. "Intelligence work also gave me a glimmer into the international aspects of government and I found it fascinating."
As a result, Lutz joined the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the only federal law enforcement agency that had an operational presence overseas at that time. After a few years working undercover in Philadelphia, Lutz was sent overseas, spending ten years in Asia and the Middle East. After returning to the United States, Lutz held a variety of positions, including Assistant Special Agent in Miami where he was responsible for all of the agency's Carribean operations.
And, just as it did for many of us, 9/11 changed his course. On that day, Lutz was in Washington D.C. , working as a senior executive for DEA. Even though he was within a year of mandatory retirement, he wasn't feeling ready to retire, and, spurred by the attacks, he applied to work at TSA, an agency that was created to restore confidence in the air transportation system. A year later, he was chosen by the Secretary of Transportation to be one of four national Federal Security Directors. Based at Orlando airport, the challenge for Lutz—and the three other Directors at other airports—was considerable. The 1,000 new screeners hired and trained, for example, was just the tip of the security iceberg.
"People are only exposed to the screening process and assume that's the extent of our security measures," he explains. "Screening is only one of three major TSA responsibilities. The second one is to make sure that airports and carriers are in compliance with federal security regulations; and third, we must ensure that there's an appropriate response by law enforcement if there is a security incident at an airport. This involves working with the local law enforcement community at federal, state, and local levels."
And if all this is not enough, Lutz manages to find time and enthusiasm for giving back. He mentors individual students, is an active member of Penn State 's Crime, Law, and Justice Alumni Program Group, something he "truly loves." Comprised of people from government and private industries—lawyers, representatives from state and local law enforcement, homeland security, corrections and probation—the group meets twice a year with to talk with criminal justice students about their work. Although there was no criminal justice major when he was in school, Lutz still feels a liberal arts education is absolutely the best preparation for students who are interested in the field.
And his number one career tip?
"I've worked with many senior government officials and the one trait that stands out is the ability to communicate—speaking with confidence and good, effective writing," Lutz contends. "And there's no better way to learn these skills than through a good liberal arts education—just like I had at Penn State ."