Lynne A. Osmus became Acting Administrator on January 16, 2009. In this role, she leads the 43,000 FAA employees in their continuing mission to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.

Ms. Osmus had served as Assistant Administrator for Security and Hazardous Materials since July 1, 2003. She has been an executive with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) since 1990, and an FAA employee since 1979. She was responsible for the internal security programs of FAA, including security of FAA facilities, personnel security, investigations, the drug interdiction support program, and security of classified material. She also managed the agency's Hazardous Materials Program, which provides oversight of rules governing the transportation of hazardous materials by air. Her organization also served as the link to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Office of Intelligence. The Office of Security and Hazardous Materials is composed of approximately 460 people posted at locations across the country, with an annual budget of just over $50 M.

Prior to this assignment, Ms. Osmus had become the Deputy Associate Administrator of FAA's Civil Aviation Security Program just three months prior to the attacks on 9/11, and led FAA's post-9/11 security response and the transition of the security programs to TSA following the creation of that agency. She served as the Director of FAA's Europe, Africa, and Middle East Office in Brussels, Belgium from 1998 to 2000, and before that had been FAA's Chief of Staff for four years with Administrators David Hinson and Jane Garvey. From 1990 to 1995, she was the Director of Operations in the Office of Civil Aviation Security.