Return to Article: Chertoff seeks unified DHS, sets 2008 priorities
-
40532
The reason why there are 86 committees and subcommittees fighting for control of the US DHS is because that number of members of congress are being bribed by the Russian Mafia to award contracts only to defense suppliers with majority shareholders of Russian mob offshore accounts. Vladmir Putin came from poverty. The KGB surely didn't pay him a salary to net worth $ 40 billion, nor did his official Russian presidency salary. Yet, he has a $ 40 billion offshore account and most of its holdings are in US defense suppliers. Anna Politkovskaya was murdered as she turned-up evidence that the Kremlin's controlling crime gang orchestrated 911 and was backing homegrown terror cells in western democracies. The mob and Islamic militants have a common enemy of democracy. The latter is willing to die for their cause and the former exploits them to turn a profit.
-
40073
Agree that Ice and CBP should be joined together so that ICE has the benefit of leads it had before the agencies were split with the creation of DHS. The fact that so many committees oversee DHS is proof that the DHS charter is too broad and unmanageable. The extension of extra duties to the inadequately trained TSA staff when there is trained staff at previously existing agencies does not provide for expeditious handling of DHS's responsibilities.
-
40035
I happen to like Mr. Cheirnoff but recognize he has a political agenda, which does not seem to fit the current rule of law or constitutional requirements. As for the Real ID act, which is already being challanged in several state courts on constitutional grounds, is unwise, not currrently realistically implimentable, and won't do a dam thing about illegal immagration. What is IMHO needed first is to enforce the laws regarding illegal immigration already on the books very diligently, not superficially. Second, vastly improve boarder security. Third, revamp NAFTA.
Back to the Real ID act, which in and of itself by it's very name is a misnomer, is an unfunded mandate upon the states to do the federal governments job. Not very appealing. It also is a bad joke in the sense that, counterfitters already know how to address this sort of ID even given it requires BIO material as part of the ID.
So why should states spend huge sums of tax payers money to provide for an ID that doesn't improve dramatically on drivers licences and doesn't address the problem it is suppose to solve in the first place?
-
39749
If Chertoff truly wants a unified DHS, he can start immediately by merging CBP and ICE back together!
-
39746
If Chertoff truly wants a unified DHS, he can start immediately by merging CBP and ICE back together!
-
39725
Charlie, Great Post. Individual responsibility, what a concept! Of course any legit employee would want correct credit for work actually performed.
* *
Nunya bidness, unfortunately you hold a mis-belief much of the public does.
It was DHS's job to fix and consolidate the watch lists according to Congress. As recently as last year some of Chertoff's committees were still berating him about the defects of the lists and DHS's failure to fix them. He sat silent.
As DHS was being created (when Chertoff was Assistant AG?) DOJ realized real power would lie with whoever controlled the consolidated watch list. The White House allowed the FBI to take over that task for the government. In my opinion, a very bad decision.
Based on public testimony last month before Congress, the FBI adds 20,000 names a month to a list now 700,000 names long. Other than DHS, and mostly CBP, being the user of 98% of the time the lists are accessed, the testimony did not seem to indicate that DHS had much role at all in controlling who was put on or taken off the list. DHS just gets the blame without the control. This was a great accomplishment for Director Mueller. How well it works out for the rest of America remains to be seen. Evidently you don't think it is working that well.
-
39702
The administration is dancing around the problem. It was recently discussed that no match letters sent by the SSA should obligate the employer to terminate those non matches. Then they said not yet because records are a mess. Why not require the employers to notify the govt and the employee to report to a government office and get it corrected. Allow a three month grace period. Even a legotimate worker would want his records corrected. We never seem to expect the individual to do anything on his own. If not corrected in a certain period then the individual should be dismissed and reported.
-
39665
DHS is an oversized and overwhelming agency without a single focus. When it was created it was compared to the creation of the Defense Department. Defense has a single focus, but DHS is multi-focused and unable to do any job well. In doing some jobs, it ignores others major jobs. Attrition at some component agencies has gone from 1% to 10%. Component agencies do not talk to each other. DHS was partially created because the CIA and FBI did not talk to each other. They are not in DHS. We would be better off if DHS was split up into its component agencies. Many of the components worked together before and were cross designated to do each other's job. Bottom line - Do we feel safer today? NO
-
39662
Mr. Death's Head can stop complaining about oversight once DHS finally has a do-not-fly list that doesn't include Senator Ted Kennedy and Catherine Stevens, the wife of Senator Ted Stevens. I've known retired military folks who still had Top Secret security clearances who could not get themselves taken off this stupid list.
Oversight can end once we have real security, not bullshit and window dressing, and when TSA stops requiring former TSA employees from taking the full training all over again simply to keep their training contractors happy.
The election can't come soon enough to get these inept idiots from screwing up our homeland's security.
-
39636
My primary objection to the REAL ID program is the false sense of security it will likely promote. Nothing is unhackable or inimitable, yet it sounds like we'll be depending on under-trained, underpaid and inexperienced border guards to spot what will inevitably be some very sophisticated fakes, the kind thata can only be made by the very highly-motivated, i.e., the folks we're most concerned about. A more profitable investment might be better training and a professional wage - to keep guards in the job longer so that they can more easily recognize situations that are truly out of the ordinary. This would likely eliminate a lot of "false positives" and actually catch more bad guys.
-
39635
Not a lot we agree on, but the schizophrenic oversight by Congress is one of them. Does Chertoff not realize DHS contributes to the problem? The administration maintains the Balkanized structure of the "homeland security" process and that inherently justifies the ridiculous oversight structure of Congress. This in turn facilitates DHS's failure to be effective. Committees see the elements they used to monitor remain clearly identifiable and separate. Given the myriad unholy agendas driving Congress and the executive branch, Secretary Chertoff should continue to expect dozens of committees to manage the forest of DHS by peering at the bark of each tree one at a time.
Chertoff needs to reduce the number of agencies inside DHS along mission lines. Put all border issues under a single Commissioner. This person needs to be actually in charge of the Border Patrol, CBP, and ICE, and yes, CIS. Equally important the cohesive management of border policy for every agency that impacts the border needs to go through this agency. Put someone in DHS actually in charge of something. These entities need to be forced to adopt a common identity and cohesive command, something that has not yet taken place. DHS 2.0 was his chance to do this. He chose not to fix it.
DHS employees write and propose breaking up DHS and returning the parts to the places they came from. DHS was willfully designed to not deliver on the promise implied in its name. Returning to the prior paradigm would admit failure; I don't think that will happen. This mess was due to a series of choices made by the administration and acquiesced to by our self-absorbed Congress. No fix will happen as long as DHS holds itself both subordinate to the agencies whose failures caused its creation and as a new source of earmarks for Congress. It may be the interagency warfare inside the beltway surrounding the creation and immediate emasculation of DHS cannot be fixed until there are a few more 9-11's.
At the risk of being accused of making an argument ad hominem, the administration went to the department whose leaders had just failed to protect America and who had spent decades mucking up the immigration process, to get the management team for the new department that was to solve the problems. Not working so well, is it?
-
39619
Trust from State legislators?? We have sanctuary cities and states (new york) contrary to federal law. Chertoff has multiple mandates 1 of which is securing the boarders. He needs to do his job implement real ID amd let the citizens of those states that don't want to comply put up with the hassels when traveling and boarding planes
-
39601
Huh? Explain why you're better off as a citizen if a 16-year-old kid in a college town can take your identity, phony up a driver's license and pretend to be you!
What the hell are you talking about? You originally pitched this as about protecting us from terrorists. While we are discussing your half-truths (lies?), what exactly do you mean fortified by natural borders? Hey dummy, you did not install the natural barrier - this means you didn't do sqwat other than install 400 miles of fence along a border that is what, 1,500 miles long?
Perhaps if you stopped the Slick Willy talk we might believe you. Until then, you're just another Bush Brown Shirt...
-
39598
"Excessive Oversight"? Many feel they do not have enough. They are a Department, not an independent authority that should be allowed to promulgate rules by fiat. In the case of REAL ID for example, it put DHS in a position to halt the negotiated rulemaking process that was already in place and to issue rules in a top down manner. The pushback that came from the states for more oversight should not be unexpected. Furthermore, it is obvious that DHS will run on the longest leash they are given; their past behavior warrants oversight as they conistently overreach. If the intent of the speech was to regain trust from skeptical state legislators, his call for more autonomy does nothing to rectify the matter.
-
39593
It is hard to argue with the latest awareness of actions taking at the CIA of the destruction of tapes after notification NOT TOO destroy anything as an indication that less oversight is needed for any agency in the government. This may have not been DHS but the problems of Katrina which have yet been corrected, the pre-staging of reporters in the audience during a Q&A session does not booster the thought that less oversight is the way to go.
PROMO RIGHT: EVENTS
UPCOMING WEBINARS
NOVEMBER 18
Speed bumps for Teleworking: What are they and how to avoid them?
DECEMBER 3
Achieve Program Success: Unlock the Management Information in Your Data
DECEMBER 10
Practical Transparency: Applying Exchange Networks for Mission Results
PROMO RIGHT: DIRECTORIES
Post a Comment
To post a comment, you must provide a name and a valid e-mail address. Messages must be limited to 400 words. By using this Service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although Government Executive does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.