Michael Peter Jackson (born April 28, 1954) was the George W. Bush administration's Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, beginning in March 2005 and ending with his resignation in October 2007. Jackson is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Education Jackson studied at the University of Houston (B.A.) under Ross M. Lence and received a Ph.D. with distinction from the Government Department at Georgetown University in 1985. Earlier Private sector career Before returning to DOT in 2001, Jackson worked in the private sector as Chief Operating Officer at Lockheed Martin IMS's Transportation Systems and Services. IMS's transportation group provided high technology services to toll authorities, freight companies and 35 state governments. From 1993 until 1997, Jackson was Senior Vice President at the American Trucking Associations, where he managed inter modal, international and technology policy matters. Between 2003 and 2005, Jackson served as Senior Vice President of AECOM Technology Corporation, where he was responsible for AECOM government relations and international business development. He has been a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute and has taught political science at the University of Georgia and at Georgetown University. Private sector career After leaving government service, Jackson became a founder and the president of Firebreak Partners, LLC, a firm which was created to "design, integrate and lease core security technology systems needed to protect commercial aviation, maritime freight transportation and other critical infrastructure." In February 2009, he was elected to the board of AirTran Holdings, Inc., which, among other things, controls the regional airline, AirTran. Jackson is the current CEO of leading Physical Security Information Management provider, VidSys. Government career Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jackson was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on March 10, 2005. In this role, he served as the Department's chief operating officer, with responsibility for managing the day-to-day operations. Jackson resigned this post effective October 26, 2007, "for financial reasons I can no longer ignore." Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation Jackson served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from May 2001 to August 2003. As deputy secretary, Jackson was that department's chief operating officer, with responsibility for day-to-day operations of an organization that, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, grew to a $68 billion annual budget supporting over 179,000 employees. His tenure was