"He took the first real major steps to turn the agency around, to restore the customer-service orientation there, to restore employee confidence and to make the agency more transparent and accountable," Mr. Toussaint said.
Mr. Mineta said that Mr. Magaw's background was well suited to the job, "especially his work as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco and Firearms where he came into an agency that was pretty much decimated, both in terms of organization and morale, and turned that agency around".
"Turning the agency around will take time, but we are making progress".
This will be a strong precedent for them to look at and for any law enforcement agency around the country".
His remarks followed a cryptic one-line report that was posted on the Internet by Xinhua, the state news agency, around midnight that said the same thing.
Robin Osler, a partner in the architecture firm EOA, came from her offices a block away, while the graphic designer Franklin Vandiver walked over from Art and Commerce, the fashion photographers' agency around the corner.
