On Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) announced new leadership hires in the Office of the Chief Security (OCSO), as well as the creation of a new security technology and programs department.
The agency said veteran law enforcement officers Danielle Outlaw and Michael Harpster would join the OCSO. Outlaw, whose background includes more than two decades of time at the Portland, Ore. police department, will assume the position of deputy chief security officer. Harpster will join the PANYNJ as director of the security operations department after two decades in the FBI. And the agency’s new security technology and programs department within the OCSO will be led by OCSO’s current director of security operations Jack Niedermeyer, officials said.
“It is a privilege for us to welcome law enforcement and security professionals of this caliber to strengthen our robust security team,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said. “These accomplished additions underscore how seriously we take our commitment to keeping the region’s major transportation assets safe and secure.”
Most recently, officials said, Outlaw was police commissioner at the Philadelphia Police Department, officials said. In her new position, she will provide central oversight to major security functions, including emergency management, cybersecurity and public safety alongside Port Authority Chief Security Officer Greg Ehrie.
Harpster was most recently head of global security and fraud operations for the Vanguard Financial Group. He will assume responsibility for overseeing security operations at all PANYNJ facilities, implementing plans to ensure the Port Authority’s transportation hubs are safe and secure.
Niedermeyer will direct the new department’s focus on enhancing security-related technological capabilities, along with overseeing capital security projects and “developing an agency-wide insider risk program,” officials said.
In its 2023 budget, the Port Authority allocated nearly $1 billion to security aimed at enhancing safety efforts at its transportation facilities and strengthening the agency’s positions around cybersecurity.
“Public safety remains our highest priority, and nothing illustrates that better than bringing on a combined half-century of experience to our security office,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said. “With their vast expertise and dynamic skill sets, these leaders will stay ahead of the region’s ever-evolving threat landscape and help guide a security team that continues to be among the nation’s best.”