Starks to lead airport security

A former Chicago police officer and airport manager on Monday was named the new federal security director at Spokane International Airport.

Dereck Starks began the job on Monday. He oversees the federal Transportation Security Administration’s group of about 145 screeners and supervisors who are responsible for security at the Spokane airport.

He takes over the director’s job previously held by David Kuper, who resigned the position in mid-December. Two other Transportation Security officials, Roy Fagan and Jim Doster, also resigned from management positions at the same time.

Before this appointment, Starks was assistant security director for screening at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Airport federal security director salaries range from $79,000 to $122,000. Starks’s salary wasn’t announced by the TSA. Last year, Kuper’s job paid him just over $101,000 per year.

While assigned to O’Hare International, Starks was part of a work force of approximately 1,600 managers, supervisors, and screeners. Prior to joining TSA, where he also served as a screening manager, he was a sergeant in the Chicago Police Department and served there for 13 years. He retired in early 2003 at the age of 40. His last police assignment was as an investigator in the department’s Intelligence and Confidential Investigation sections.

“Dereck’s background and experience make him an ideal person for this position,” said Rear Adm. David M. Stone, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security for TSA, in a press release.