Posts by John Halinski

Mr. Cahill is an internationally recognized aviation security consultant and skilled instructor who has provided expertise and assistance to multiple countries, aviation agencies and international organizations throughout the world. He is currently the Director of Aviation Security for SRI Group and is a consultant to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He previously served as the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) liaison responsible for aviation and transportation security issues in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Poland. He was responsible for ensuring compliance with U.S. aviation security regulations and ICAO international aviation security standards and developed risk mitigation plans to counter aviation security vulnerabilities. He also provided technical assistance and response to acts of unlawful interference against aviation and other transportation infrastructures. He successfully negotiated international transport security agreements and helped develop national level transportation security programs, policies and plans to mitigate risk to global aviation.

Mr. Cahill has developed strong partnerships with foreign governments and airport authorities in regions that have direct flights to the U.S., as well as with key U.S. government agencies, to ensure that effective, sustainable security practices and new security technologies are implemented. He led the TSA 2014 Sochi Olympics team which provided aviation security expertise to the U.S. State Department’s interagency security effort for the Olympic Games. As Department for Homeland Security (DHS) Attaché for Poland, he was responsible for ensuring coordination of all DHS activities and policies throughout the Central and Eastern European region. He also served as U.S. delegate to the ICAO Aviation Security Panel and to ICAO Aviation Security Working Groups, helping insure that U.S. aviation policies were included as a key part of the overall global security strategy.

As TSA Representative to the ICAO Universal Security Audit Program (USAP), Mr. Cahill conducted multiple ICAO aviation security audit missions worldwide, successfully leading international civil aviation security audit missions in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He worked closely with national authorities and aviation security stakeholders to provide assistance to host governments, assisting them in achieving compliance with international standards. He has also facilitated ICAO aviation security auditor certification training programs at several ICAO training centers, resulting in the certification of dozens of ICAO Auditors from countries throughout Africa and Europe. He has also successfully conducted quality control training and ICAO Global Aviation Training programs and is certified as an ICAO Instructor and has been certified as an ICAO AVSEC Auditor.

As Senior International Aviation Security Inspector for TSA in Brussels, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany, Mr. Cahill conducted multiple quality control oversight missions, including foreign airport assessments and air operator inspections, ensuring compliance with ICAO and TSA requirements. He successfully coordinated the implementation and sustainability of international compliance standards and procedures with U.S. and foreign aircraft operators at airports in over 20 countries throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.  He directed operations as on-site aviation security coordinator for the TSA/DHS response to transportation-related terrorist threats during deployments to European locations during the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003 and during heightened security threats in the UK in 2004 and 2006.

 Mr. Cahill is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and is a retired U.S. Air Force veteran specializing in Security Forces operations who served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, with NATO Forces in Bosnia and Kosovo and in Operation Enduring Freedom