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Return to Article: New DHS secretary launches total review of operations

• 8704
  

  No, No. No.

  Again we see an argument that if there are management deficiencies the organization needs to set up a powerful Policy shop to address the concerns. Mr. Secretary, why don't you just let your HR Department come back to the table and report directly to you instead of to your Chief Financial/Admin. Officer.

  The government broke down managerially when HR was pushed away from the table and removed from being a strategic partner with the head of the agency- and everything got funnelled through CFO's and Chief Admin officers.

  You want to make DHS better- elevate HR.

  HR Specialist

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 9, 2005 10:51 AM
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  To the legacy INS Special Agent who compared immigration law with tax law, stop drinking the punch. I worked admin. cases as a GS-05 and had no problem doing it. It was NOT that difficult at all. If they were so complex how come INS S/A's were in danger of losing their GS-12's because management had them doing too many admin. cases and not enough criminal cases (and 1326 cases don't count)?

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 8, 2005 7:20 PM
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  I agree with previous posters about the complexities of both INS law and Customs law, and the vast differences between the two. By merging two completely different, yet complex areas of investigation, ICE has dilluted the expertise of its legacy agents and has hindered its ability to effectively conduct investigations. Legacy INS groups and legacy Customs groups could theoretically function well by retaining their respective legacy agents. But every time an agent gets transferred to the other side of the house (as has happened countless times already), there is now a long learning period during which these agents don't contribute much due to their lack of expertise. Any time an agent is transferred, he/she is no better off than someone fresh out of the academy. I&NS Law, as stated previously, is unbelievably complex - as is tax law. And Customs already had enough areas of investigation (drugs, money, weapons, child pornography, port security) without having to lump INS law on top of it.

  Aside from ruining the investigative arm of each legacy agency, about the only thing that the merger of INS and Customs investigations has served to achieve is a new forum for punishing employees. Now, employees who are disliked by their superiors often get sent to the other side of the house as a penalty. Was this really the intent of the Homeland Security Act under which this merger took place? In my book, neither the dilution of the expertise of the legacy INS and Customs agents, nor the use of this merger as a means of punishing ICE agents do anything to even remotely foster a more secure U.S.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 8, 2005 6:18 PM
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  The responses posted by the legacy INS personnel just reinforce the points made for the last two years by many legacy INS and legacy Customs agents. Yes, Immigration law is very complex, and requires specialized training and experience. The same goes for Customs law. So why in blazes were two such specialized, and dissimilar, agencies merged together into ICE? The government could just as well have merged the FBI with the Secret Service, or ATF with the IRS, or Postal Inspectors with the DEA. Those moves would have made just about as much sense as merging INS and Customs agents with little or nothing in common as far as training, authority, jurisdiction, policies, procedures, systems, databases, etc. Enough said!

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 8, 2005 1:36 PM
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  Reference the DHS/ICE agent who thinks interior enforcement involves nothing more than "selecting the right forms", it is obvious he has no experience with interior enforcement. Case law involving removable aliens is as complex as tax law. I suggest he APPREHEND a couple and see how far he gets with legal counsel when he merely selects the "right forms". Ever heard of definitions of CIMT's, Admin Removal, TPS, Reinstatement, and the 10,000 other issues that arise when "selecting the right forms". Maybe he better stick to APPRHENDING illegally imported parrots.....

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 7, 2005 11:23 AM
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  I think ICE Special Agents welcome the good Secretary's initial bona fides in trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of DHS. However, they also implore him not to miss the forest through the trees.

  By far, the most problematic entity in DHS is ICE, and Secretary Chertoff needs to move quickly to stabilize, strengthen and resurrect it: it is an entity on life support, and failing fast.

  In order to do this, Secretary Chertoff needs to ask and answer the following questions:

  - Do we need an Undersecretary for BTS in addition to an Assistant Secretary of ICE?
  - Do we really need an Assistant Secretary of ICE? Merging CBP and ICE would enhance synergy and cooperation and remove yet another layer of bureaucracy.
  - What is the role of ICE Investigations in Homeland Security? So much investigative authority has either been given or wrested away that a clear and compelling mission is difficult to discern.
  - What are the proper roles of the FAMS and FPS vis-a-vis ICE? ICE Investigators (legacy Customs and INS) deal with BORDER CONTROL matters; FAMS are a COUNTERTERRORISM force and FPS deals with PROPERTY crimes-the missions could not be more dissimilar.
  - What are the proper staffing and funding levels for Investigations? You can't have a "mish-mosh" budget that tosses together funding for Investigations, DRO, FPS, etc. and expect things to work properly. Furthermore,it makes no sense to increase staffing if there is no supporting infrastructure in place, or the funding for it is not available (e.g. office space, vehicles, proper equipment, etc.).

  As posted before on this website, many give Secretary Chertoff 90-180 days, at most, to signal to Investigations that some meaningful help is on the way. A long, drawn-out review of entities within DHS that are already up, functional and doing well will only be done at the neglect of the failing one-a critical error that may well signal the end of DHS investigations, as streams of agents either retire, transfer to other agencies or outright resign.

  Good luck, Mr. Secretary.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 5, 2005 9:33 PM
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  To previous poster:

  Immigration law is complex no matter what you chose to believe. There are many enforcement tools to be utilized within the deportation/exclusion provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act(INA). Administrative detention/removal as well as criminal enforcement provisions of the INA have been and ARE our most effective assets to combat terrorist within the United States.

  I am certain an experienced Customs Agent can utilize numerous criminal and administrative provisions of Customs law to attack criminal suspects.

  Your stupidly degrading simplification of immigration enforcement as being a language issue and limited to processing jail cases is a perfect example of an elitist attitude that impedes learning and applying new authorities. This is exactly why EFFECTIVELY merging Customs and Immigration will be a long process.

  Last I heard this country was called the United States of America, not the United Field Offices of the FBI. Admittedly the Bureau does wield a lot clout but the good of the country must prevail. The Bureau can be put in its proper place to best serve the American people if the Administration has the political will to do it. Political will is imposed by the American people, hopefully the majority of which are NOT defeatist thinkers.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 4, 2005 5:58 PM
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  To the previous poster, I wonder what makes you think interior immigration enforcement is too complex for former Customs agents. I would say it is more of a lack of language training than anything else. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which forms need to be filled out while working a jail case.

  And your pipe dream of DHS being made co-lead on interior counterterrorism cases and eventually THE LEAD AGENCY is insane! You really think the Bureau would allow that to happen, seeing that would leave them without their prized public relations tool. I guess the CIA would just hand over all international counter-terror operations to the FBI? Right? The Bureau is in the business of taking, not losing.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 4, 2005 4:00 PM
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  Hopefully the new Secretary will have the needed support from the White House to perform the needed evolutionary adjustments of DHS. First on the agenda should be merger under one chain of command of all border protection agencies and Immigration and Customs related interior enforcement. Under the new chain of command form specialized units ie: Coast Guard, Customs,and Immigration enforcement. Total blending of Immigration and Customs is a highly desireable goal for the future but at this time Immigration enforcement is our best counter-terror and counter-intel tool for United States interior missions. The separate units can closely co-ordinate and cross train but immigration enforcement is too complex and useful to be fully exploited as a counter-terror/counter-intel tool by non expert legacy Customs or other managers.

  Claim DHS' rightful position as co-lead with the FBI (and eventually THE LEAD) for counter-terror/counter-intel missions within the United States as well as close cooperation with Intelligence agencies overseas.

  Encourage the developement of an institutional culture within DHS that respects and supports the contributions and potential of ALL DHS enforcement elements and the EQUAL importance of all, such as FAMS, FPS,Inspectors and Border Patrol. There should be no room within DHS for elitist attitudes that appear to look down upon enforcement elements that are not comprised of 1811 investigators.

  Eliminate bureaucratic impediments to aggressive, proactive enforcement ie: redundant reporting, anticipatory "crystal ball" incident reports, idiotic "professionalism standards" such as dress codes that compromise agents and missions. In short, take care of the mission NOT APPEARANCES.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 4, 2005 11:27 AM
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  I welcome the new DHS Secretary's total review of current department operations. If his subordinates tell him the truth, this agency, although only 2 years old, will get the overhaul it so desperately needs. We need a strong and impartial leader to look at the present organization, and fix what is wrong, especially in BTS. First, BTS is an unnecessary layer of upper management and should be abolished, along with the position of Undersecretary, which is vacant anyway with the resignation of Mr. Hutchinson. Next, take the FAMS (Air Marshals) and FPS (Security Guards) out of ICE, where they don't belong. Put the investigators now in ICE under CBP as the Office of Investigations, with Customs and Immigration branches, to eliminate another layer of bureaucracy and an unnecessary Assistant Secretary, currently Mr. Garcia. We would then be on the right track, by eliminating waste and inefficiency, and improving morale, to the benefit of the mission DHS is supposed to be pursuing.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 3, 2005 5:51 PM
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  I would suggest that Mr. Chertoff first confer with Hutchinson and Garcia regarding the best approach to improve the DHS mess, so that he can see for himself how incompetent these two are. Then, I would hope that he speak to Mr. Bonner, so that he could get an honest opinion from a competent leader. Next, Mr. Chertoff should speak one on one with random CBP, Border, FAM, and legacy Immigration and Customs Special Agents to grasp what is truly going on in the trenches. Mr. Chertoff should know by now that he has been fed a pack of lies by his most senior advisors. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. The problem that Mr. Chertoff has is that he is too bright to claim ignorance, so he does not have an avenue for escape. Whatever disaster happens in the future will fall squarely on his shoulders. By now Mr. Chertoff has heard the usual garbage like, "everything is running well sir", "sir, the challenges at ICE are improving daily", "morale is at an all-time high", and gee "what an attractive beard you have sir, you look marvelous". Mr. Chertoff was a judge so he knows a pack of garbage when he hears it. He also knows that in order for him to know what is going on in DHS, he should listen to ALL sides. The ball is in your court.

  name withheld Posted March 3, 2005 5:40 PM