Return to Article: Hiring freeze, spending restrictions take toll on Homeland security bureau
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To all ICE agents who have written to GovExec.com, please read the following news story written by Al Giordano, editor of Narco News regarding ICE's attempts to investigate ICE employees who are contacting the media. This article must be read not only by all ICE dedicated employees who have written to this website, but also for GovExec management to realize that the worst national security threat is not coming from international terrorist but from within the ICE organization. News Article:
Customs Cops Visit Bill Conroy with an Attack on Press Freedom By Al Giordano Narco News Posted on Tue May 24th, 2005 at 10:27:40 PM EST
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/5/24/222740/305
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The article only begins to expose the farce that is ICE. I wish GovExec and/or others would dig deeper, as previously voiced in this forum. There is MUCH more to report, most of which the public and Congress are oblivious to. From the inability to hire, travel, or train, to giving up jurisdiction in terrorist finance and export cases and inability to change the name to Investigations and Criminal Enforcement because the FBI opposed it. Lest we not focus on the Admin problems with incorporating already beleaguered and archaic legacy INS systems for pay, time, and procurement (just ask DELL Computer how fun it is trying to get paid).
Regarding HQ wonks like Knocke, I don't know they go to sleep at night after touting the supposed "successes" of ICE (i.e., BUCCANEER - a three year old legacy Customs case). To suggest ICE is "successful" is to admit you have consumed the proverbial "Kool Aid". ICE is without leadership (Garcia), direction, mission focus, money, and morale, not to mention a non-player in terrorism - related cases (despite with Mike Garcia says, child exploitation cases, while a noble cause, is NOT RELATED TO PREVENTING TERRORISM - our mandate per legislation).
To all concerned, please yell and yell loud (but with clarity). Write your congressmen and contact the media and let them know what is going on. The general public think the country is safer now because of DHS, while in fact the argument can be made that it is less safe as fewer people are working on terrorism-related matters than before since the FBI became the ONLY dog in the fight.
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I have written many responses to numerous GovExec articles on ICE, and I commend everyone else for doing the same. But I must stress the vital importance for all of us to write to our Senators and Congressmen, even those who are not from our home states. Keeping the heat on Congress is the only way this situation will ever change. Simply responding on this website will not accomplish anything. Don't just complain - take action. And also keep in mind that letters with simple accusations and complaints but no constructive criticism or suggestions will likely be thrown in the trash, so be professional.
With Tom Ridge likely to leave soon, a new successor will soon be chosen. Additionally, an article came out yesterday in the Washington Times which completely lambasted ICE, and specifically ICE management, for its current situation. This article also suggested that a congressional investigation into ICE might be on the way very soon. For these reasons, this is the time, more than ever, to keep the heat on. It will take time and effort from us, but if we want this to change, we have no choice.
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ICE is in no position to succeed, with 40% budget cut, and people predicting we will be $500 million in the hole by mid-fiscal year, who you trying to kid? No training, no awards, and lack of leadership at all levels where could morale go from here? ICE is not a true homeland security agency, we a step-children to the FBI. The true terrorism fighting is being headed up by the FBI, ICE is just lucky to get any scraps (JTTF) the FBI throws it! FBI was able to get a significant increase in their budget so you know who Congress has faith in. Our rank and file field office is infested by incompetence, managers who fraternize with subordinates, love trysts amongst management, good 'ol boys, and fraud/waste abusers. Yet, no ones cares and people are scared to report them.
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After reading this article and Mr. Knocke's comments, I must ask, "Russ, what color is the sun on your planet??" Mr. Knocke stated that it would be "premature to speculate with respect to a timetable for fiscal 2005." Come on!!?? ICE mangement knew FY 05 was coming. (Here's a news flash: FY 06 is on its way). And those non-essential spending items, such as travel. I haven't seen too many 'junkets'. Non essential equipment and supplies?? Are you talking about those computer programs we purchase in order to successfully complete our investigations. Or maybe you're referring to the money we need to FedEx supboenas to companies and pay the companies for the supboenaed information. Yeah, we don't need those. Mr. Knocke stated "that ICE continues to preform its national security mission" and "we continue to give clear guidance to go about the national security mission of ICE." Mr. Knocke, ICE HQ has told us to start figuring out how to do more with less!! We have heard that local admin people are compiling lists of "Schedule B" employees for possible furlough, we are continuing to lose turf battles with DEA and the FBI. Mr. Knocke finally states that "within the 22 agencies of homeland security, we had the most difficult start-up." Maybe someone should ask "why"? Maybe its because we started with a debacle of a management structure. INS management policy and procedures were deemed a disaster, but we used them anyway. Sounds like a recipe for failure to me. As this mess progressed, we started giving things away like Green Quest. Mr. Dougherty (thank God he's gone) stood in the New York office last year and proudly exclaimed that he was the one who brokered the deal that gave Green Quest away. How someone could publicly take responsibility for that one is beyond me! And how do we continue to take care of our budget problems, we give away Air & Marine. Next, are we going to lay off a few people? Mr. Garcia, where are the new badges and creds we were promised? Where is our budget? Why don't we have a clearly defined mission when it comes to our nation's security? If things are so wonderful, why are ICE agents writing to their elected representives in record numbers? And the reason for my soap box; I was at the World Trade Center on that beautiful September morning and witnessed that horror.
Senior Special Agent Legacy US Customs, New York City
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WOW, the Mailbag is the only thing that makes me smile when it comes to ICE. It is so great to hear from others who dare speak the horrible truth- misery really does loves company, but it doesn't do anything to fix the problems. I wish someone at GovExec could explain to us why it or another news agency doesn't just break this story wide open. It's all here (except for our names) and it's all true. Certainly, even absent the names, there is enough available content that someone with a modicum of journalistic integrity to fallback on and a little gusto could safely print something worthy of evoking some sort of clearly ambiguous response, from a real live quotable DHS HQ muckety-muck (not a PR guy), so incoherent, so clouded and distorted with government double speak and devoid of anything sounding even close to a direct or truthful answer that it would serve only to confirm the veracity of assertions made by the anonymously quoted agents. Now that would turn my little Mailbag smile into a big fat evil laugh.
PS: I loved the story carried by GovExec titled "Omnibus bill drops spending cap for FBI computer upgrade" and then there was the, "Bush orders CIA, FBI to boost hiring" story by GovExec's very own Chris Strohm -these had me rolling on the floor for a number of reasons.
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The so-called accomplishments mentioned by the ICE mouthpiece have nothing at all to do with the creation of this abortion called Immigration and Customs Enforcement! Customs Cyber Smuggling Center did great work before the merger, and continues to do so in spite of this ridiculous merger. The same goes for the Detention and Removal operation of the former INS, which is still doing what it has always done, albeit with more difficulty due to ICE's funding problems. I'm waiting for my assigned GOV's engine to seize, because we were told not to obtain oil changes as specified in the car's maintenance schedule due to budget problems. Or maybe my brakes, which badly need replacing, will go first. This merger is a first class fiasco, as any candid ICE agent can tell you. There is NOTHING that ICE is doing that wasn't done just as well, if not better, before by legacy Customs and INS. Anyone who says otherwise will also try to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn. Stop the insanity NOW, and fix this mess!
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As an ethical person, I feel that I have an obligation to comment on statements, that I percieve to be misleading, made by ICE senior mgt. with the blessing of Asst. Secretary Michael Garcia. INS was dismantled for mismanagement in the Dept. Of Justice. It was restructured under Homeland Security as ICE. ICE is purported to be a combination of Customs and Immigration investigations, however the focus is on Immigration cases. Customs investigators were very proud of their mission, that is why they joined Customs and not Immigration. I am sure that many Immigration agents are proud of their mission and they love their job, but that kind of work is not for everyone. That is why others choose to work for the DEA and Secret Service. ICE declaring this merger a success by the number of illegal aliens arrested is a joke. That's like the DEA declaring a success by confiscating 10 pounds of marijuana. ICE needs to be abolished just like the INS was. The investigators that want to continue to work Customs cases should go to CBP. The others should go to BCIS. The low morale in ICE will eventually produce incidents of embarassment to this administration. The senior mgt in ICE hate what this agency has become, however they cant't admit that publicly. Their focus is now on retirement. We have no leadership.
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Funny that ICE spokesman would use a case that was worked exclusively by Customs Special Agents before ICE even existed. The awards were given to Customs agents who completed the case before Customs merged with ICE. ICE didn't have anything to do with this investigation but it is being cited as an example of how well the ICE agency is still performing. With the budget woes that ICE is having now, I expect the agency to implode at any moment.
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How pathetic! Why use Operation Buccaneer as a shining example of ICE success when it was initiated more than three years ago by the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service? The only thing ICE had to do with it is that they inherited it and the personnel doing the work - after much of the work was completed. It is incredible how the truth gets twisted to keep those who should know the facts are from actually knowing them. ICE is the government model of mismanagement and disinformation.
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ICE is an agency in shambles, with no clear mission and no funding, Your story does not begin to show the problems with this agency and how low morale has gotten. The stories you have printed only touch the surface. We have no mission, no credentials and are still fighting over our poorly conceived name after two years. ICE agents in Florida almost caused a riot when hurricane victims begged them for bags of ice after seeing their raid jackets with ICE on them (the jackets are really cheap looking, by the way). Over one third of the agency is eligible for retirement in 2 years and no hiring is in site. We can't even train those we did hire. In the past weeks, new agent classes at FLETC were sent home in the middle of their training because the agency had no money. These agent trainees were told to sit tight and "maybe" we will find money in 2006 to send you back to school, but you can't do anything until then. That is unbelievable. We can't move supervisors who have been promoted and we are carpooling in several offices. Last year ICE finished $600 million in the hole and they cut our budget 40% this year. That does not exactly bode well for this year. This agency is INS under a slightly different name.
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I really feel sorry for the employees and managers of ICE. Hiring freezes are the most destructive things that can happen to an agency. When the original hiring freeze was put on the Department of the Army back in the 80s-90s, it began the long slide that made it easier to outsource and BRAC many offices/agencies. The last group of engineering and IT interns that were allowed to be hired are now celebrating their 20th anniversaries, if they still have jobs with the Government.
Hiring freezes should be a last resort and only last a few months at best. Unfortunately, Congress seems to think they're the best way to control costs, but in the long run they cost more than just money with the loss of morale and expertise.
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ICE spokesmen may say that ICE's natonal security mission is not being affected all they want. But the fact that no hiring has occurred since March will create a reduction in the agency's ability to perform all of its missions, including those that are related to national security.
Congress appropriated significant enhancement positions to ICE, yet ICE cannot even hire to backfill attrited positions. The ICE spokesman quoted in this article points out ICE success stories (what few there are) but he does not speak to the cost of those successes. If the workforce that is overburdened to meet the mandates of the agency is further diversified without additional employees, ICE will implode. A workforce that can't drive, use the phone, or even make copies will not continue to be very effective for long.
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Russ Knocke is a perfect example of what is undeniably wrong with this agency. Everything at ICE is in the toilet and this guy continues to shovel sunshine up our backsides. It is only a matter of time before the truth genie is out of the bottle and mouthpieces like Mr. Knocke and others at HQ who created, maintain and further this fraud will have to come up with some serious answers. This merger is a failure. Travel, temporary duty assignments, equipment and supply purchases are hardly non-essential expenditures. It amounts to the following: let the agents come to work, but restrict their ability to do any. How can anyone honestly assert that ICE, as an agency, can, has or will be able to successfully carry out its "national security" mission under these constraints? How important can the mission really be, if DHS/ICE Special Agents, professional federal law enforcement officers, can't use their cell phones, drive their G-rides or have at their disposal, even basic equipment and supplies. You know your reading ICE B.S. when (1) the person quoted is saying something positive about ICE and (2) feels comfortable having his real name printed in the story- thanks Russ.
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Asst. Secretary Michael Garcia is responsible and accountable for this budget mess. The longer he remains in his job, the more likely his bosses will pay part of the price for his gross incompetence. Garcia knows that his days are numbered and is allowing the FBI and to a lesser degree the DEA erode our jurisdictional authority, specificaly in the areas of money laundering and now technology export enforcement. Garcia's disloyalty to his employees will not earn him points with the Justice Dept. or the FBI. I doubt that this is a quality that congress looks for when someone wants a job as a Federal Judge or a U.S. Attorney. His quest to re-build the investigative staff of INS by incorporating it with Customs investigative staff has been an abysmal failure. The INS abused and demoralized their investigators by not allowing them to perform their jobs. They are now doing the same with Customs. Eventually ICE will be dismantled just like INS was. Hopefully Customs and Border Protection will absorb ICE before a tragic event occurs due to lack of resources. It was the U.S. Customs unifomed division that stopped the milineum terrorist attack. They were rewarded through this re-organization by removing the largest portion of their investigative staff. Does anyone in congress even care?
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