Rear Admiral James P. Schear (Ret.) is a Senior Advisor at Command Group who has served at the highest levels of the aviation security community for over thirty years. Admiral Schear’s unique combination of military, government, and civilian experience endows him with a deep understanding of security strategies, operations, and industry from both civilian and government perspectives.
 
Admiral Schear recently retired from the TSA, where he held a succession of high-level positions as a member of the Senior Executive Service. He was appointed as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Aviation Operations at the very outset of the agency.  In this capacity, he oversaw the build-up of a workforce in excess of 50,000 personnel and was responsible for the planning and management of all screening activities at 448 major U.S. airports, as well as the administration of all federal inspection programs and direction of all headquarters and field operational personnel for the agency.
 
Also with the TSA, Admiral Schear served as the Federal Security Director for three major airports and served as Area Director for Security Operations of three different regions of the United States. He was a primary architect behind the post-Hurricane Katrina Disaster Response Plan for the TSA that today enables the organization to place several thousand personnel equipped with a full suite of support and command, control, communications, and intelligence equipment anywhere in the continental U.S. within 12-24 hours.  Additionally, Admiral Schear served as the TSA Executive Liaison to the U.S. Northern Command, the combatant command tasked with protecting the territory of the United States and providing military support to civilian authorities.
 
In the private sector, Admiral Schear was the Vice President for Restructuring and Corporate Security for US Airways, Inc. and is recognized for his involvement in the successful management of bankruptcy proceedings and subsequent restructuring of the airline’s complete enterprise, including security operations. He was also an internationally qualified commercial airline Captain and held numerous leadership roles within the US Airways pilot community.
 
Admiral Schear served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve for 33 years as a Naval Aviator. During this time, he completed three combat tours and was selected as squadron Commanding Officer before his promotion to Rear Admiral.  As Rear Admiral, he served as Vice Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Deputy Commander of the Second Fleet, as well as Deputy Commander of the Patrol Wings Pacific and Commander of the Naval Reserve Readiness Command Region Four.

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Senior Advisor, 
Command Group

Deputy Assistant Administrator for Aviation Operations, 
Transportation Security Administration

Area Director for Security Operations, 
Multiple Areas, Transportation Security Administration 

Federal Security Director, Multiple Major Airports, Transportation Security Administration 

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Contact:
Washington, DC
E: ​jschear@commandcg.com
T: (202) 207-2930
​F: (202) 347-8510