Top security chief at Fort Smith Regional Airport retires
by January 22, 2009 3:00 pm 192 views
Arvel “Buddy” Acoach, the top representative for the federal Transportation Security Administration at the Fort Smith Regional Airport, resigned the position effective Jan. 21.
Acoach, who held the post since TSA federalized security at the airport in 2002, held the title of Assistant Federal Security Director and was responsible for the daily management of security at the airport and its 12 TSA employees. His date of retirement from the TSA is effective Feb. 28.
Acoach, 62, was employed by the Arkansas State Police for 26 years and served 17 years as the chief of security police for the 188th Fighter Wing based in Fort Smith. He has just short of 41 years of government service.
Other than to say he has enjoyed working with the people in Fort Smith and is looking forward to retirement, Acoach would not comment on his resignation. He referred all questions to TSA officials in Little Rock.
Jerry Henderson, Arkansas’ Federal Security Director for TSA, told The City Wire that there are “no plans right now to advertise the position,” and is not sure if the position held by Acoach will be filled.
TSA employment at the Fort Smith Regional Airport has declined from 28 in 2002 to 12 today.
Henderson said employment numbers at airports “are always moving up and down. That’s driven by the airport and the number of passengers.”
Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2 percent from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The highest annual enplanement total at the airport in the past 10 years was in 1998, with 109,034. That figure dropped to 87,944 in 2002.