Peter Neffenger

The Senate Legislative Information System records roll-call vote 217 of the 114th Congress, 1st session, on June 22, 2015, at 5:38 p.m. Question: confirmation of Peter V. Neffenger, of Ohio, to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security. Result: nomination confirmed. Yeas 81. Nays 1. Not voting 18. The one recorded nay is Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). A Senate Commerce Committee executive session had marked up the nomination after President Obama named him (committee calendar). The Congressional Record daily digest for June 22, 2015, is the contemporaneous floor digest. A Senate confirmation is not a later private-sector charging paper. It is not a judgeship.

Floor confirmation of the TSA Administrator / Assistant Secretary nomination. Not a finding about 2020 election software. Not a Smartmatic act.

Confirmed 81–1. Served as TSA Administrator until January 20, 2017 (see left-tsa).

The May 12, 2016 House Homeland Security / Oversight witness bio PDF for Peter Neffenger identifies him as the 29th Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard (from May 2014) and records prior service as Deputy National Incident Commander for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, along with Deputy Commandant for Operations. Harvard NPLI and CNA trustee bios match the Coast Guard career arc. A personnel bio is not a criminal finding. It is not a judgeship.

USCG command track locked by contemporaneous House witness bio. Deepwater role is the bio’s claim on a congressional packet — not reinvented here.

N/A — military / personnel record summarized for Congress.

Printed House hearing records on TSA reform and improvement (GovInfo CHRG-114hhrg99578) and the House Oversight hearing page “TSA: Security Gaps” document DHS Inspector General John Roth’s testimony that covert checkpoint testing produced “disappointing and troubling” results and that “layers of security simply [were] missing.” The chairman restated media reports that investigators moved prohibited items past checkpoints in 67 of 70 tests; validated results were classified. Contemporaneous coverage (Daily Caller; Washington Times) reported Neffenger saying he was “greatly disturbed by TSA’s failure rate,” while also saying the system as a whole remained effective, and attributing poor performance in part to “a disproportionate focus on speed and efficiency… rather than security effectiveness.” He had been confirmed in June 2015. An inspector general finding about checkpoint performance is not a court finding that Peter Neffenger personally committed a crime.

Oversight hearing identity and IG characterization locked by GovInfo / House pages. Leaked 67-of-70 figure is the chairman’s restatement of media leaks — not treated here as a declassified annex.

N/A — congressional oversight. Not a personal judgment against Neffenger.

The House Homeland Security printed hearing record (GovInfo CHRG-114hhrg23245, May 25, 2016) documents congressional oversight of TSA airport wait times during Neffenger’s tenure. Contemporaneous preferred-outlet coverage (Washington Examiner; Fox; Epoch Times) reported Sen. Mark Kirk telling him to fix lines by Memorial Day or resign, and Neffenger describing certain long waits as preventable and staffing-driven. The hearing HTML is the primary for the committee process. Outlet pieces are reporting for political pressure color — not upgraded to a finding that he was removed. He remained Administrator until January 20, 2017.

Institutional bios at Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and CNA’s board of trustees describe Neffenger as TSA Administrator from 2015 until January 2017 / the end of the Obama administration. The underlying appointment is the June 22, 2015 Senate confirmation (see senate-confirmation). This page does not invent a later Trump-era reappointment. Exit with the administration is not a criminal finding.

On October 24, 2018, Smartmatic issued a Business Wire release, carried on the AP press-release wire, titled “Security and Election Experts Form Smartmatic US Board.” The release says the newly formed U.S. board consisted of Neffenger, Robert Cook, Gracia Hillman, and Paul DeGregorio, and that “Mr. Neffenger Chairs the board, and Robert Cook acts as Executive Director.” It identifies him as a retired vice admiral, former 29th Vice Commandant, and former Assistant Secretary / TSA Administrator until January 2017. It states Smartmatic was working with Los Angeles County on a new elections system for 2020 and that the company had U.S. headquarters in Boca Raton. Whether he remains Smartmatic U.S. chair in 2026 is unresolved in primary sources checked for this file (CNA’s trustee page still listed the line when fetched; secondary pages say he left). This site does not invent a current 2026 title. A company board announcement is not a criminal charge. It is not Malloch-Brown’s SGO group-chair packet — see lordmallochbrown.com for that man’s own documented roles.

U.S. board chair announcement locked. End date unverified. Not upgraded to Dominion chairmanship or vote-shifting findings (see Claims).

N/A — private company release. Delaware later paraphrases continued chair role into 2020–2021 (see transition-overlap).

A November 18, 2020 Wayback capture of the Biden-Harris agency-review teams page lists Peter Neffenger on the Department of Homeland Security team: most recent employment “Self-employed,” source of funding “Volunteer.” Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute announced the same volunteer assignment in his personal capacity (archived HTML). Delaware Superior Court, in Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Newsmax Media, Inc., C.A. No. N21C-11-028 EMD, opinion dated September 12, 2024, summarized his deposition this way: he “is a board member and chair of the board with Smartmatic”; President Biden “appointed Mr. Neffenger to President Biden’s transition team, focusing on ‘general management issues within [DHS] and immigration in particular’”; and he “maintained that role with President Biden’s team from September 2020 to January 2021.” Those sentences are the court’s paraphrase of sworn testimony in a defamation docket. They are not a finding that he altered ballots. They are not a criminal conviction. Snopes and contemporaneous fact-checks accepted the two public facts — Smartmatic U.S. chair, Biden DHS volunteer — and rejected the extra claim that Smartmatic was a Dominion subsidiary. This site follows that split.

Two-hat overlap locked by Wayback roster + Delaware paraphrase of deposition. Filing ≠ finding that he rigged an election. Dominion-subsidiary story rejected here.

Defamation docket summary judgment opinion — not a criminal judgment against Neffenger. Powell software claims → Claims.

On September 29, 2021, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing titled “20 Years After 9/11: The State of the Transportation Security Administration.” The committee advisory and the Congress.gov event record list Hon. Peter Neffenger as a witness: former TSA Administrator (2015–2017), appearing with former administrators J.M. Loy and John S. Pistole and then-Administrator David Pekoske. The printed event text identifies him as TSA administrator from 2015 to 2017 and a retired Coast Guard vice admiral, and states that under his leadership TSA developed automated screening technology, examined airport public-area security, and worked with industry on checkpoint delays. Those are the committee’s introductory sentences. This file does not invent additional spoken quotes beyond the Congress.gov text.

Harvard NPLI lists Peter V. Neffenger among its people/faculty-adjacent bios and records the TSA tenure ending January 2017. CNA’s board-of-trustees bio likewise. The Oct 24, 2018 Smartmatic release is the primary for the U.S. board chair seat (see smartmatic-chair). Exact private consulting revenue, board fees, and current 2026 Smartmatic title are not locked as Fact this pass. Do not invent donations. Do not assign Smartmatic corporate revenue or SGO group fines to him personally. Do not confuse his U.S. board chair announcement with Mark Malloch-Brown’s SGO group-chair packet.