[From the diaries by susanhu. More essential information.]
For some reason, I just recalled my very first diary entry at Booman Tribune (should’ve had before..). It was on BT opening day, I think.
Anyway, please humor me and follow the link to have a look. The essence is that the role of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security was marginalized. And may very well have been a major contributor to the total breakdown in assessment and response.
A marginalized Inspector General:
- Meaning that audits on performance and preparedness were neglected.
- Meaning that policies and procedures were not properly tested and revised, as appropriate.
- Meaning that there was no proper system to provide feed-back on systemic shortcomings to those in charge.
- Meaning that most of the DHS/FEMA leadership – unmerited, corrupted, political appointees – were utterly unprepared and paralyzed when disaster struck.
More below:
There’s a bit of dirt on Chertoff too, if you follow Booman’s link in this comment to the entry:
I don’t (none / 1)
want this site to be known for tin-foil hattery but I just can’t past this
Mindbending article.Michael Chertoff, the man in charge of our Homeland Security, was a lawyer for al-Qaeda before he took his job at the FBI and became the head of the 9/11 investigation.
And that scares the piss out of me. And if anyone can explain how a lawyer goes from the Senate Whitewater investigation to representing low-level fraudsters in NJ…
…worst…appointment…ever.
Support the site and visit our store. I bought too much 🙂
by BooMan on Mon Mar 14th, 2005 at 07:20:11 PM EDT
[ Parent ]
Not to mention the irony of this (a link in one of my own comments), Chertoff addressing the House Appropriations Homeland Security Sub-Committee -March 2, 2005:
Accordingly, I am initiating a comprehensive review of the Department’s organization, operations, and policies. I look forward to working with this Committee and the Congress regarding proposals that might come out of that review. Our review of the Department is driven by our singular purpose of meeting the threats – both current and future – that face our nation. Any changes we make or recommend as a result of this review will be designed to better enable us to identify, prevent, and, if necessary, mitigate and respond to attacks on our homeland.
I want to emphasize that our analysis of the threats and risks will drive the structure, operations, policies, and missions of the Department, and not the other way around. We will not look at the threats and our mission through the prisms of the Department’s existing structures and functions. Instead, we will analyze the threats and define our mission holistically and exhaustively, then seek to adapt the Department to meet those threats and execute that mission. We must move away from stovepipe solutions. Instead, we need to look at the entirety of the threat picture when calculating risk and implementing protections.
(snip)
The Department’s other functions, including responding to natural disasters, securing our coasts, and providing immigration services and enforcement are all essential parts of our mission. We owe it to the American people to bring the same dedication and energy to these tasks as we do to preventing terrorist attacks.
I think it’s a useful reminder.
With Brownie out of the way, the focus of the failure is moving to Chertoff. I think we should add a bit to his troubles by shedding light on this story again.
(I’m getting nostalgic – it was comparatively quiet at BT in those days, there was plenty of time for Booman to participate in pretty much every entry.)
The link to “Mindbending” certainly raised the hair on the back of my neck. WTF is going on in this country?
Any organization that large without a self-correcting mechanism (such as Inspector General) is doomed to failure from the get-go.
Hi NDD,
That’s it! The function of IG is essential in any sizable agency.
It is so ironic that an administration which consistently complains about the lack of oversight elsewhere – e.g., the UN – is so thoroughly eliminating any attempt to objectively inquire its own actions.
As in investigating this sorry situation. The Repubs refusal to allow an independent inquiry is symptomatic of how deep the corruption and cronyism goes. An independent inquiry would expose the fatal corruption and shortcomings – the total hubris – of these a**holes who pretended they worked to protect the nartion.
(whew, feeling better now)
Just remembered another one (diary). This rant written while quite inebriated last Saturday. Don’t take it too seriously, but recall that a lot (maybe most) of the funds now appropriated for the hurricane relief will be funelled through this corrupt and incompetent system.
Your tax dollars at work to enrich the connected.
Yes, please lets focus our energies on getting rid of Chertoff — this guy has given me the creeps for quite a while now.
Thanks for the reminders.
me too, brinnainne, and one can just see the evil in his eyes and his mannerisms, if you ask me.
This whole event has been a horendific awakening for many, and should give us the ammo to get rid of him and others.
.
WASHINGTON — Bush said that Chertoff has “been confirmed by the Senate three times,” signaling that he should have no problem surmounting the advise and consent process.
Chertoff, whose appeal court nomination sailed through Congress (vote 98-0), won immediate support on Capitol Hill, where even Democrats applauded the choice.
“Judge Mike Chertoff has the resume to be an excellent Homeland Security Secretary, given his law enforcement background and understanding of New York’s and America’s neglected homeland security needs,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Chertoff biography – dual citizenship U.S. and Israel
▼ ▼ ▼ do read my new diary ▼ ▼ ▼
Looking at Chertoff’s resume as posted by Oui (thank you, Oui, or should I say – merci), makes one wonder
what qualifications does the man really have to run an organization or agency, no less a huge and highly complex one as important as Homeland Security? Michael Chertoff is a lawyer – that’s it. It appears he has never been involved in the administration or management of any group of people larger than some legal team.
How do these people get through the approval process? Was everyone so shell-shocked from Bernie Kerick that they just rubber stamped Chertoff? The Democrats are just as culpable as the Republicans in this appointment and who knows how many others that are equally unqualified.
Stories abound on the news (even network) and newspapers, etc., about the mismanagement of Homeland Security Funds across the country and the government never seems to respond to the allegations or resolve the situations. Whether Chertoff is at the helm of Homeland Security or not is not the issue for me. Our safety and security, when it comes to terrorism or the unpredictable acts of Mother Nature is a real question that everyone (in both red and blue states) can come together and apply pressure on.
Confidence in GW and his whole team is at an all time low. It would be great if the news and the media could keep the pressure on there. And if the wussy Democrats could ever develop a backbone (like snowballs in Hell) and stay on this too. We need to know the changes that are being made and who’s going to be accountable. Are they rehiring the real FEMA people or other experts? This is the first real uniting force and opportunity to come along.
I guess I’m finished ranting now.