Return to Article: Homeland Security could face transition problem
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27131
The main problem with all of your political appointees is that they are infected with such an attitude of self importance that they forget that the only reason for their existance is to support the work being done in the field. It's the work that is being done in the field that creats them. Not the other way around. There are literally hundreds of highly intelligent supervisory field officers in the immigration service who could have been promoted who have the requisite field experience and "Institucional Memory" that will allow the transition to take place without the disaster that the combining of all these disparate agencies was. For instance, combining Customs, who were a child of the Treasury Dept and one of our oldest taxing agencies whose job was to inspect products entering the USA with a department whose main thrust was inspecting and determining who had the right to remain, reside and pass thru the USA simply because a disfunctional Congress kept saying that the Immigration Service was broken, was the ultimate display of stupidity. The fact that over the last 20 years, congress has used the Immigration law as a method of buying votes for contributions, passing numerous bills that confer benefits on one group or another, and then blaming the results on the INS.
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25238
"Leave and stop holding the agency back"??? Are you kidding? You think that the rest of us should drink the Kool Aid like you obviously do? This agency was doomed to failure from the beginning, and is merely a straw man set up to deflect blame from the FBI and CIA following future terrorist attacks (It wasn't our fault! It was DHS that let them in!). If you really believe that CBP and ICE can actually work as presently constituted, then you must also believe that pigs can fly. Look up in the sky, there goes one now! And yes, ICE management is largely comprised of legacy Customs managers, who are trying to run an agency primarily tasked with enforcing immigration laws. Anyone else see a problem with that? Besides, we all know that historically, not all Customs bosses were promoted based upon their training and qualifications!
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25106
Brava!! Bravo for ICE SSA for their call for solidarity. Best dang call from the heart I've heard here yet.
If I may, the best way for the masses to be heard, is for the finger pointing, bickering, and sniping to stop and the voices to be raised in unity.
Oops. No, I didn't mean that as it sounded. Or did I?
If the shoe fits ...
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25042
Heart surgeon now being asked to a nurologist ?? A better analogy is a stock boy being asked to display melons and fruit. There's no real skill here. As to the term career bureaucrats all that means to me is lazy, set in there ways and work 9-5 maybe
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25041
Free will, its a beautiful thing, leave and stop holding the agency back, there are others standing in line for your job.
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25040
Yes, DHS will face transition problems. Anyone who believes otherwise is not currently working in the department. There is the old saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and that is exactly what happened. Had the minds behind the creation of DHS done some research they would have found that the U.S. Customs Service until the late 1800s was responsible for Customs, Immigration and Visas. At that time Congress realized that it was way too much responsibility for one agency and moved visas to the State Department and created the Immigration Service. Now one hundred years later someone thought they should try and shove it all back together, even though more laws and regulations have been added and the laws have become more complex. Then they decided to staff many of the management positions with people who are only interested in using the Department of 1 to 4 years as a stepping stone. And now they wonder why so many of the employees who came from one legacy agency or the other are looking to get out as fast as they can. As for my brothers and sisters from the various legacy agencies, we really need to stop the fighting amongst ourselves and start standing together. We are the ones who have made the government our career not those that come in for 1 to 4 years and claim to know what is going on. Yes there are those from Customs that do not want to do Immigration work and those from Immigration that want nothing to do with Customs, but the reality is we are stuck until Congress realizes what has happened and makes moves to correct it. So, lets grow up, stop fighting amongst ourselves and push to get the problem corrected.
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25038
I agree w/the senior special agent below and like you, many of us from the legacy INS were also placed in positions that were unfamiliar to us and with no say in the matter, following two-weeks of transitional customs training in 2003. But the fundamental difference between the two agencies, you have to agree, is that most of the upper management positions in ICE/OI are made up from the former Customs Service, not the INS.
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25024
Well, my problems with ICE and DHS would take a long time to list, so for the sake of brevity, I'll sum it all up by simply saying I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS! I became a federal employee almost 3 decades ago, as a member of the U.S. Customs Service. I proudly served with this historic agency until it's untimely demise in 2003. I never wanted to be an immigration officer, or have anything to do with immigration, because I knew it was a frustrating and thankless job. Yet I and thousands of others found ourselves forcibly transferred into DHS and ICE against our wishes, with absolutely no say in the matter, purely for political purposes following 9/11. And people wonder why morale at ICE is so appallingly low? That's what happens when you take people from a job they're good at, and enjoy doing, and give them another one they never wanted or asked for.
As for those who'll say that people like me are "whiners", I'm sure anyone put into a similar situation would feel the same way. If you told a cardiologist that starting tomorrow, he would also be a neurosurgeon, because after all, both are doctors, I don't think he'd be a very happy camper either! To paraphrase another poster in a previous blog, combining INS, Customs and Agriculture into CBP and ICE is like breeding a horse, a cat and an alligator. I'm not sure what you've got afterwards, but it sure is ugly!
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24989
DHS needs to face a transition. The entire premise of DHS was ill conceived, poorly executed, and built on quicksand. Add TSA to the mixture. Cronyism is rampant and incompetence of current leaders is appalling. The Civil Service rules of determining the best qualified were set in place years ago and served a valuable purpose. DHS intentionally circumvented every personnel principle and created a flawed organization destined for failure. All of this at the expense of taxpayers. Current political appointees come into the organization, bring in their "cronies" and place them in high pay positions, make lots of money, create unnessary positions for friends,then leave the agency in worst shape than when they arrived. Career employess don't stand a chance. There ought to be a law. TSA Employee
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24950
Obviously we have not matured enough after 4 years of our reorganization into DHS and the former INS Legacy and Customs Legacy merger to work together to achieve the mission that DHS was formed! It has not about who has the most experience, education and talent to do a job but with which agency one was formerly affiliated or "political affiliation" at a higher level.
I can only say that the government in my case has wasted a lot of money to train me to do the tasks that I was formerly responsible for under INS Legacy. My talents and experience was used to teach others or advise others how certain things were done per requirements and procedures under our current agency; then, because I presented a problem of voicing my thoughts when policies and procedures were ignored, I found myself doing mundane tasks with little or no training to do the job; I am sure I am not the only one who has experienced this however, under the current leadership we are no closer to being a cohesive organization today than we were the first three months of our inception; it is apalling that we have forgotten that we are suppose to work together as a team to "protect and defend our country from terrorist activities and those who would destroy our very core of values and freedoms that our ancesters fought so valiently to ensure our freedoms that we enjoy today continue for our children and grandchildren to come." I am truly disappointed in our "pollitical" appointees who "know" someone rather than know "something" about leadership in a time of transition and change!
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24891
Apparently my comments hit a nerve with some of my legacy INS colleagues here at ICE. However, if you'd go back and read what I said, you'd see that I never criticized you. I challenge you to point out anything that I said that was incorrect, or an attack against any of you. Everything I said is on target, and factual. My comments, and contempt, were directed at the morons behind this whole ridiculous plan, who created this mess in the first place.
I never disrespected those who were in INS, and acknowledged that immigration is a thankless and complicated field, which is why I want no part of it. I had a job that I loved, and was very good at. Why can't you acknowledge that my feelings are legitimate, and empathize with those of us who were ripped away from what we knew and did well for many years, to be thrust into something totally alien (no pun intended) and unfamiliar? Many of you benefited from the merger, with pay raises, better vehicles and working conditions, etc., so don't knock us until you have walked in our shoes.
I always respected INS agents, whom I knew to be good and decent people stuck with a lousy and thankless job. In fact, we welcomed many into Customs over the years, where they thrived. As far as seizures and arrests, I have made plenty on my own in the last 25 plus years, without taking credit from other agencies. If you can't see that my remarks were directed at the unnecessary creation of DHS and ICE, rather than personal attacks against any of you, I suggest you read my remarks again, with an open mind, and you'd see that I hit the nail on the head. As far as moving on goes, it's not easy when you are my age, but one day you kids will be in my position, and may finally understand where I'm coming from. Good luck till then, because we're ALL going to need some luck in the coming years, until someone in Washington finally gets it right.
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24884
Look at the bright side... since the merger, now at least some of the customs people can say they've used handcuffs outside of the matroom.
I've come to find that what made the customs service so "effective" is the fact that they claim every other agency's seizures for themselves. They may not even see a load of cocaine, but you can be sure that they'll claim it in their monthly stats! Perhaps someone should tell them that the secret to making your OWN cases is to actually leave the office.
Maybe the best match for the customs service is to merge with FBI. It's the same mentality... wait around the office until another agency makes a case, then go claim it for yourself.
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24815
I don't agree with ICEman. What problems at INS? This was always Customs strategy: keep INS at bay and treat it like a stepchild. Customs was and is More Show than Go. What ever problems INS had were the creation of Congress, hence the crap treatment from other agencies like Customs et.al. Stop blaming INS and acting like INS officers and agents are somehow 2nd fiddle, that's a bunch of BS. If you want to say something great about your own agency fine, but INS bashing is just deception.
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24775
In response to the ongoing whining of people like the ICEman comments, it is these employees who continue to do everything they can to make the ICE mission fail. The constant whining and whoa-is-me attitude by the multitude of legacy Customs employees is the biggest failure of ICE, they resent any reference to immigration, fail to truly recognize the complexity of such work. They have shown a total disregard for the legacy INS employees within ICE and at every opportunity share this disdain through such messages. They try to rationalize and legitimize their comments when the fact is they are cry-babies who do not want to even try to enforce U.S. Immigration laws. To those individauls, keep in mind that if we are failing as an agency, it is your legacy Customs managers and senior executives that are running this agency.
Stop complaining and try to make something of this agency, or better yet, move-on..
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24772
Ice Age's comments above re Beardsworth apply to Steve Flynn as well. Just another Coastie trying to pass himself off as an international, intelligence and homeland security expert. All while without having spent considerable time actually doing those missions. Probably competent staff officers, but that's not actually doing intelligence analysis.
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24751
There are many factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of DHS and the follow on disgust its employees have for their politically and legal career motivated management team. The author has nailed a few of them. In my opinion three factors override all the others.
First, this Presidency has never believed in or really supported the idea that DHS (and in particular border law enforcement of either trade or immigration) should exist at all. At the early stages of DHS's existence this administration made that position crystal clear to the rest of the Executive Branch. DHS became the department to dump on and set up for blame.
The second factor is this White House is so enamored of the Justice Department as the source of all good advice and advisors and manipulation of the public, it is past frightening. (John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez, Monica Goodling?) The Administration has relied on the Department of Justice (the Department whose failings so substantially allowed 9-11 to occur) to be the source of its management team for DHS. After Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, the administration redesigned DHS to assure failure and then made sure its management team consisted of folks from the same DOJ whose failures brought about the creation of DHS.
Third, our Congressional leaders sat silent and watched all this happen as the old failed paradigms of homeland security were reinforced.
Why would anyone expect anything other than failure to be the result when so much effort is expended to assure failure?
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24747
This comes as no surprise to those of us who were drafted against our will into this department from the U.S. Customs Service. Customs was America's oldest law enforcement agency (214 years), and it actually worked well, until it's untimely demise in the aftermath of 9/11 (even though Customs bore no responsibility for the terrorist attacks). INS was also dissolved, and merged with Customs to form CBP and ICE. The merger was thought out by a group of political appointees with no border law enforcement experience whatsover, and was a terrible mistake from the beginning. Customs and immigration enforcement are each specialized and complicated fields, and mix together about as well as oil and water. Add to this mess a revolving door of unqualified political appointees, and the result was the disaster known as DHS. This department was artificially created, for purely political reasons, and was mishandled and mismanaged from the start. It would have been better to bring the Customs Service into DHS intact, as the Coast Guard and Secret Service did, and to fix the problems at INS while keeping it as a stand alone agency, instead of what was actually done. ICE was, is and will always be an abortion, and the rest of DHS is little better. Way to go, team!
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24740
I've "listened" to the gripes of ICE and DHS personnel so often in these responses that the saying "Where there's smoke, there must be fire." comes to mind. IAW your article evidently there was a reason for it, "a name that fits". Can you say "Nepotism"? Can you say "the Spoils System"? How about "incompetence"?
Once more I'm reminded of a Bush-ite's lament on Dubya's loyalty to his appointment failures; his tendency to "stand behind" his people rather than cut his losses and put someone competent in their place. Again, I offer that perhaps the failure is more in the personal choices and the system emplaced by the POTUS; but then perhaps not. I know it's easy to backseat drive, and it's getting comical how easy the cheap shots are. I only wish this expose' had come out in such a "lay-down" fashion earlier.
This article further cemented in my mind the need for an impartial, Constitutional and national support system like the Civil Service; that same system that is currently being dismantled by NSPS, HRMax, and other "trials" being put in place in the hope they will better a proven system. But, I've been assured that should these systems not work, they will be dismantled and discontinued. Thanks, as always, for letting the cat out of the bag. This article has been an eye-opener. I didn't realize how deep the ignorance ran.
I do hope Fred (Thompson) doesn't follow John's (McCain) and Dubya's bad examples and start espousing all this "reformist" nonsense. I really would like to see one viable candidate for the Grand Old Party. After all their reforming, I'm not even sure the nation will be considered viable. Could you forward a copy of this article and its responses to him for us?
Oh, and thank you for giving me the new time line. Let's see ... this article was submitted on the 1st; today is the 4th ... Okay, we are at 594 and counting; more or less?!
See you in November.
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24739
The inept leadership of political appointees in this administration and especially at the Department of Homeland Security will be remembered in High School civics and history books for a government ran by a bunch of "peter priciples," responsible for screwing up the enitire federal service, all under the ruse of the 9/11 attacks.
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24733
It is not surprising that there is a lack of career employees at DHS. The entire ideological focus of the current administration has been that career civil servants are not only unnecessary, but counterproductive. They have done everything possible to push out the very people that would constitute that back bench that would replace these political appointees. Of course, if the next election puts them out of power, they can then blame the train wreck on the next administration, even if the whole thing is of their own making. Politics as usual.
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24709
Overall a very accurate account of the situation. However, relying on Randy Beardsworth for an indepth view of DHS is ridiculous. He was and will always be a Coast Guard expert and nothing more. He had no more operational knowledge of the the various investigative arms of DHS on the day he left than he did on the day of his appointment.
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24707
That the Department of Homeland Security has both focus and management problems should be apparent from FEMA's failures during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Post-Katrina decisions - and lack of them - on how the United States should rebuild the Gulf Coast have not reassured anyone who cares about Gulf Coast residents. DHS should follow the Pentagon model on many issues and restricting political appointments should be foremost in its thinking. People dependent on DHS for security don't have the time to wait for a new political team to get up to speed.
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24699
REALLY? Four years into the debacle called DHS, you are just waking up to this fact now?? DHS was then in 2003 and is now a poorly thought out, planned and cobbled together idea, merging disparate agencies with little or no mission commonalities, and forcing a marriage of several well-run mission focused agencies with shifting priority, dysfunctional, mismanaged agencies. They transplanted diseased organs into a healthy patient and now that patient is terminally ill on life support. This administration has shown its' indifference to the success of this endeavor by appointments of such non-qualified political light weights such as Julie Myers and Michael Brown. Why is it a surprise to anyone with any intelligence that this is not working?
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24694
No plans for a transition? We don't have any idea what we will be doing tomorrow! The scary thing is that I am pretty sure things have been planned this way.
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24692
Well, no wonder morale is so low in DHS. This article explains why it, ICE and DHS, sucks so bad. A law enforcement agency ran by a bunch of law school graduates who have never had to arrest anybody in their life. But hey, they did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...... Geez, never thought I would pray for the democrats to win the White House, but now I can't wait. DHS, what a train wreck!
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24688
What a joke. The career officers and officials will run the place fine without the politicos and the generals, admirals and coast guard captains. It's a mess because of the politicos. I thought destroying INS was gonna fix everything. The new immigration bill shows what a joke DHS is in the mind of congress. All this enforcement talk is just window dressing for amnesty.
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24680
Nepotism, cronyism, incompetence true hallmarks of this administration, which will take DECADES to undo by the regular government workers.
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24673
It's hard to believe you think the government would come to a halt just because of a transition of top officals. I been here for several transitions and the job has never faltered in the least. Its the employees that keep it going, the folks at the top never know what really goes on anyway.
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24669
Thank you GOV EXEC for outlining some of the short comings of DHS during the last four years. DHS was a bad idea to start with, and this administration added political hacks to the formula. Please tell Randy Beardsworth he can stop sucking up to Asa Hutchinson; Beardsworth has already successfully moved to the private sector. Beardsworth and Hutchinson are two big reasons that ICE and CBP don't work together more closely. But don't worry DHS employees and the general public, they will get the transition right. Mike Jackson is thinking about it everyday.
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24651
That is another reasons (among many) why people like Julie Myers should NOT be appointed to positions like Assistant Secretary for ICE.
The Congress does not approve of her, the employees do not approve of her, and the public that knows her, does not approve of her.
So why is she in charge?
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24632
Shane Harris writes, "frequently dysfunctional agencies, some of whose failures to safeguard domestic security contributed to the 9/11 attacks." What an incredibly uninformed and patently offensive statement.
The agencies empowered and funded to prevent the 9/11 attacks, CIA and FBI, failed miserably and yet suffered none of the indignities which have been inflicted upon the components of DHS. The reason the unnamed but implied agencies, legacy US Customs and INS, are now regarded as dysfunctional is a direct result of the creation of DHS. It was not a pre-existant condition at these agencies.
The nepotism and cronyism in DHS, as substantiated by the facts in this article, are the souce of the dysfunctionalism, not a symptom. This administration and the political managers at DHS resent career employees and show nothing but disdain for civil service experience. This arrogance has resulted in the lowest employee satisfaction and performance in the federal government. Perhaps a complete change of the slate would improve the attitude and direction of DHS.
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24631
I think the dinosaur analogy is apt here, big body, small brain, with the brain leaving every 2 years to become lobbyists.
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