GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: Appropriators reject DHS funds transfer request

• 18097
  

  Just once, we hope the powers to be will listen to the employees working in this dysfunctional federal environment.

  Trish Posted August 5, 2006 2:56 PM
• 18021
  

  I agree with the NY Agent's comments and will add that one reason the FPS is in the red is poor financial management in the agency. In SF/LA for example, they have expended funds for suburban vehicles, bomb/drug dogs, sophisticated SWAT weapons, plus the training for use of them all. They added more supervisory/management positions and reduced the worker level thereby causing a shortage of personnel to manage the security program, which is their primary mission. An additional problem is that the agencies in leased space are not paying their rent because the services agreed to in the lease contract are not being performed. I say place the Security Inspectors under GSA/PBS, the Police Officers and Criminal Investigators under ICE and disband the FPS. Then, and only then, will all the problems fade away.

  GovExec.com reader Posted August 1, 2006 1:15 PM
• 18002
  

  The post from the ICE agent in New York sounds to me like a plan to put things back to where they were before Sept. 11. Great idea! The creation of DHS was nothing but a knee-jerk reaction to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that actually did little to make this nation safer, but cost billions of dollars. The money could have been better spent on beefing up INS, Customs, the FBI and CIA, instead of creating this bureaucratic nightmare. Morale is at rock bottom for a variety of reasons, including mismanagement, lack of mission, ongoing financial turmoil, and the fact that virtually every senior manager has only been there a short time, and then left through the revolving door! Does anyone remember Tom Ridge, Asa Hutchinson, James Loy, Gordon England, Michael Garcia, etc.? It's been more than three years since DHS came into being. Has anything gotten any better? We all know the answer to that question, and it's a resounding "no"! It's time for the administration and Congress to take responsibility, by stepping up and admitting that a huge mistake was made, and then doing something to correct it!

  GovExec.com reader Posted July 31, 2006 2:58 PM
• 17999
  

  I have a wacky idea, now bear with me. Why not dissolve ICE, send FPS back to GSA, send OI and Intel to CBP and send DRO to Border Patrol? I know, I know it's crazy but sounds very familiar.

  But seriously, the White House and DHS need to put their egos aside and admit failure. DHS was ill-conceived and ICE is a catastrophe. Place the ICE components in the proper positions (see above) and watch DHS rebound from 3-plus years of misery. CBP (or whatever they'll call it after the merge) will become a true law enforcement agency with broad jurisdiction and divisions that complement each other seamlessly. The budget shortfalls will be corrected to the simple fact that one agency equals one comptroller. Turf wars will lessen because one agency equals one commissioner, who will have the power to make decisions and mitigate jurisdictional squabbles.

  This needs to happen.

  GovExec.com reader Posted July 31, 2006 12:59 PM