DHS deputy's departure adds to leadership gap

Homeland Security Department Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Michael Jackson announced his resignation Monday, citing personal financial reasons.

In an e-mail, Jackson said, "After over five years of serving with the president's team, I am compelled to depart for financial reasons that I can no longer ignore." He did not say what he planned on doing after his Oct. 26 departure.

After his resignation was announced, Jackson was praised across the board for his commitment and intelligence, but praise for his achievements was less universal.

Before coming to DHS from the Transportation Department, Jackson held several senior positions in private sector firms like AECOM Technology Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. He had made it clear that he eventually intended to return to the private sector.

"I'm looking for getting a nongovernment badge for a while; I think that's good for me," Jackson told Government Executive in March. "I have no interest in another government job after this one."

As deputy secretary, Jackson took on controversial personnel reforms and major management challenges, including improving contract oversight and boosting low employee morale.

"He's to be commended for his intellect and industry, but I'm disappointed there hasn't been more progress at DHS," said Clark Kent Ervin, former DHS inspector general and director of the Homeland Security Initiative at the nonprofit Aspen Institute.

Ervin said he particularly wishes Jackson had taken on acquisitions oversight and reform. The former IG said Jackson's comment to an industry audience in 2006 inviting the private sector to tell the agency how to best do business "set the tone for a laxity in terms of contracting oversight."

"There continues to be one problem or another with the contracts at DHS, whether it's insufficient oversight, undue use of no-bid contracts [or] contracts that fail to deliver what's promised even through billions of dollars have been spent," Ervin said. The Heritage Foundation's James Carafano said the department's leadership structure held Jackson back from making concrete progress on the toughest issues.

"I think he did the best he could with the way the job is structured," Carafano said. "The problem with DHS is there are too many organizational components for one man to manage. It's a structural issue … But his presence will be missed. He and the secretary made a mature leadership team."

Calling Jackson his most trusted counselor and a close personal friend, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said his deputy "kept an open door for all 208,000 employees." Even the National Treasury Employees Union, which has often butted heads with DHS officials over pay-for-performance and collective bargaining rights, echoed this sentiment.

"NTEU often disagrees with the priorities of the Department of Homeland Security -- including advancing the … personnel system, but Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson made himself available for important discussions of problems identified by NTEU impacting both DHS employee morale and accomplishment of the agency's vital mission," NTEU President Colleen Kelley said.

Neither an acting deputy secretary nor a permanent successor for Jackson has been named. With a relatively short amount of time remaining in the Bush administration, however, experts say it's possible the acting deputy secretary will continue in that capacity for the remainder of the administration.

"I think there's relatively little that [Jackson's successor] can get done, but on the other hand, every day counts, so it's important to have leadership at the top of the department that is confirmed and has the support that comes from going through that process," Ervin said.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, expressed concern over the change in senior leadership at this point in the administration and urged the president to choose a successor quickly. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Jackson's departure reaffirmed that "the department's leadership has more holes than Swiss cheese."

Thompson added, "As we near a presidential transition, and with security threats looming around every corner, I'm scared to ask who Secretary Chertoff will turn to now."

No matter how the position is filled, Jackson's successor will have his or her work cut out.

"This is a department that lives its life on the front page every day," said Andy Maner, former DHS chief financial officer and president of ABM LLC Advisory Services. "It's under a degree of scrutiny I think unparalleled in the history of government. When you're a senior manager there, you can only do it for so long."