DHS policy point man quits

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The man who led the development of border and transportation policy at the Department of Homeland Security is leaving.

Stewart Verdery, who headed the policy office at the department's Border and Transportation Security directorate, will leave effective March 4, he said in a letter to the White House.

Verdery "championed policy development in substantive areas under border and transportation security. He served as a familiar DHS representative before Congress, private-sector bodies and on official government policy review boards and working groups," Adm. James Loy, acting homeland security secretary, said in a statement last week.

In his role at the department, Verdery was responsible for the ticklish negotiations with the European Union over the transfer of airline passenger data, and for the inter-departmental negotiations over US-VISIT, a huge project to biometrically verify the identities of all visitors to the United States.

He is the latest in a lengthening line of senior officials to leave the troubled department.

His departure comes as plans are being developed to upgrade his post to run a department-wide office for strategic policy and planning.