A key overseer of the Bush administration’s unsuccessful efforts to create a more comprehensive screening process for airline passengers resigned in disgrace four years ago from the New Hampshire Supreme Court to avoid prosecution over his conduct on the bench. W. Stephen Thayer III, who left New Hampshire’s high court in 2000 under a deal with prosecutors, is now serving as deputy chief of the Transportation Security Administration’s Office of National Risk Assessment. Thayer resurrected his public career with a stint at a conservative political group in Washington before landing the job last summer where he oversees the administration’s Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System. The project encountered such technical difficulty and so much resistance from privacy advocates that it was sent back to the drawing board earlier this month. Full Story