US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta submitted his resignation effective on July 7, White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Friday. "He has informed the president that after five-and-a-half years he will be stepping down," Snow told reporters.
Mineta assumed a higher profile after the September 11, 2001, attacks when he spearheaded an unprecedented overhaul of transportation security. The only Democrat in President George W. Bush's Cabinet, Mineta spent most of his tenure juggling the fallout of the hijackings on the transportation system, including the near collapse of the US airline industry.