Michael Canavan

Michael A. Canavan was a retired United States Army lieutenant general and former Federal Aviation Administration security official.

Canavan sat on the board of defense contractor USfalcon.

Canavan commanded Special Operations Command Europe and the Joint Special Operations Command, and retired after serving as the chief of staff for the United States European Command. On the morning of the September 11 attacks, he was in Puerto Rico and had failed to designate a replacement. In the wake of the attacks, Canavan resigned his position as Associate Administrator for Civil Aviation Security at the FAA amid controversy over Air Marshal assignments to Bush administration Cabinet members and confidence in his leadership.

As a major general Canavan led the team in Croatia that recovered and identified the bodies from the 1996 crash of an Air Force CT-43, which killed the Commerce Secretary, Ronald H. Brown. Michael Canavan (right) with his wife, Ambassador Katherine Canavan (center) at Patch Barracks in January 2011.

Canavan was married to Ambassador Katherine Canavan.