The 'Peter Principle' posits that one will continue to get promoted until one reaches his 'level of incompetence.' With Thursday's announced promotion of the TSA's Grand Master, James Loy, the Peter Principle's 'ceiling' may have been shattered.

Loy, the pensioned Coast Guard Admiral who was brought in to run the TSA after John Magaw embarrassed former boss (SecTrans) Norman Mineta one time too many, is now being promoted within his new shell organization, the Department of Homeland Security.

Loy will fill the post of Chief Deputy to DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, vacated when Gordon England got the job of Secretary of the Navy.

Loy's promotion leapfrogs his old boss, former Representative Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), who, pols assume, will remain in his present post, Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security.

Loy's promotion comes as a reward for his 'work' in catching college students who sent his agency emails about how easy it is to smuggle contraband aboard airliners [oh, wait -- the TSA didn't catch Mr Heatwole or find the contraband, even though they had (but didn't act on) his e-mails for five weeks; my mistake --ed.], and for his 'great' management skills, which resulted in just a billion-dollar overrun of last year's already-bloated budget.

Now, with Loy's promotion, the nation will surely look to Loy's leadership, to streamline and invigorate all the nation's security, the way he has so helped the airlines in the past.

There is no word yet on just who will assume Loy's old throne at TSA.

FMI: www.tsa.gov; www.dhs.gov