This morning I had CNN droning on in the background while getting ready for work. I noticed Clark Kent Ervin being interviewed by Soledad O’Brian, not paying much attention in the rush.
Who is Clark Kent Ervin, you may ask.
He was the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security until December 2004.
So what, you may ask.
Please follow below:
Back home tonight, I googled Mr. Ervin to see what the interview was about. I could not find a transcript, but found many references to his new book (which I was unaware of), “Open Target:Where America is Vulnerable to Attack”.
I found a link to his blog, with this:
Welcome to the blog for my new book, “Open Target:Where America is Vulnerable to Attack.” I served as the very first Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, from the day the doors opened , January 24, 2003, until my presidential appointment expired on December 8, 2004. During my time in office, it was my job to determine how well the department was carrying out its mission of protecting the nation from a future terror attack. Sadly, I found that the country was still dangerously unprepared, and that there were numerous gaps in our defenses that terrorists could easily exploit. But, rather than attacking the problems and working overtime to close these security gaps, the department’s leaders worked overtime to attack me.
That caught my attention, since I had posted here at BT more than a year ago:
Now ex-IG Ervin states that Ridge tried to make him spin his reports to Congress.
I profess no knowledge beyond what this amNY-article stated and what I found on some links, but it seems that the DHS and the Administration are extremely eager and vigilant in ensuring a lid on things.
What’s going on?
And in the first comment:
Is a replacement in place?
Has anyone been nominated?I tried to look, this was my first hit:
Vacancies in the DHS Inspector General’s Office. An incredible number of vacancies for what seems to be fairly senior positions. Maybe they’re not too keen on inspecting themselves?Then the DHS’ own page. It would seem that there is currently an “Acting Inspector General”
Here and hereThey don’t take the Office of the Inspector General for the DHS too seriously, it seems.
Ervin continues:
“Open Target”is the first insider’s account of the Department of Homeland Security and why it’s been such a failure to date. The book is to be released in the next couple of weeks, and I hope that it will have the effect of spurring the department, the Administration generally, and the Congress, into taking the steps that need to be taken to protect ourselves to the extent that we can do so. Terrorists are absolutely determined to strike us again, and, from everything we know, they are working urgently to exploit the gaps that remain in our defenses.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I posted another entry directly related to this:
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.
ABC – Brian Ross reports: At issue, security failures at the Department of Homeland Security and allegations by a former Inspector General that the Bush administration wanted them covered up.
But former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is calling into question the recollection of his one-time Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin.
Ervin told ABC News that Ridge told him to tone down criticism of security failures in the months before the 2004 Presidential election.
In a statement to ABC News, Ridge says, “Mr. Ervin’s recall of events is wrong.”
I am sorry to be harping on regarding this topic, but here it is – a smoking gun for a completely corrupt system. Cronies and incompetence are installed, internal oversight is removed or sabotaged. Performance drops, funds are diverted through corrupt practices, the system totally disintegrates.
With this result:
WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency should be dissolved and rebuilt before the upcoming hurricane season, a Democratic senator said Sunday.
“FEMA has become, to many people in America, and particularly the Gulf Coast, a joke, a four-letter word,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
It seems to be deliberate and systematic. Are other departments as rotten and corrupt?
