How bad is it at the Department of Homeland Security?
Read the following excerpts from Jerry Markon, Ellen Nakashima and Alice Crites\’ article for the Washington Post – including their lame attempt to somehow pin this on President Bush – and see for yourself:
Anexodus of top-level officials from the Department of HomelandSecurity is undercutting the agency\’s ability to stay ahead of arange of emerging threats, including potential terrorist strikes andcyberattacks, according to interviews with current and formerofficials.
Thedepartures are a result of what employees widely describe as adysfunctional work environment, abysmal morale, and the lure ofprivate security companies paying top dollar that have proliferatedin Washington since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The department\’s terrorism intelligence arm, for example, has cycled through six directors during the Obama administration, decimating morale and contributing to months-long delays in releasing intelligence reports, according to interviews and government reports.
Can you possibly be surprised by this? How can morale at the Department of Homeland Security be anything but abysmal in an administration so unconcerned with homeland security?
But, of course, there has to be some way of laying off the blame – which inherently means it goes to George Bush, who established the Department of Homeland Security, thus is the only other President available for this purpose. Here is how they try – and then how facts immediately make their effort look ridiculous:
The department\’s woes date to the George W. Bush administration. Within a few years after DHS began operations in 2003, senior-level vacancy rates were already high and many top officials were leaving the fledgling department for jobs with private security companies. Among the most prominent is the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm led by former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, which employs so many former officials it is known in homeland
During the Obama years, the outflow of personnel has accelerated, according to the FedScope database of federal employees maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. Between 2010 and 2013, the number of annual departures of permanent employees from DHS increased 31 percent, compared with a 17 percent increase for the government overall.
Got that? The high turnover level started with George Bush (how could it not, since he was the only President in history with the Homeland Security department)…except it accelerated to almost double the number of vacancies under President Obama (the only other President with Homeland Security, thus the only comparative).
Here\’s a thought for Mr. Markon, Ms. Nakashima and Ms. Crites: maybe turnover is always going to be high in this area…but when it doubles from one President to the next, the issue isn\’t high turnover, it is the quality of the administration.
Call me a dreamer, but I\’ve always thought that dysfunctional work environments and abysmal morale might have a tendency to cause turnover. Maybe you should think about that too.
Oh, and in case you think it is only at Homeland Security…
Andat the Transportation Security Administration, a DHS agency createdafter 9/11 to enhance airport security, the hemorrhaging of bothsenior and junior personnel has “had a tremendous effect,”’said Kenneth Kasprisin, a former acting TSA head who left the agencyin May.
“Youcannot sustain a high level of security operations when you have thatkind of turnover,”’ he said, attributing the defections to “atoxic culture” and “terrible” morale.
Let\’s see: the same issue (a huge level of turnover) for the same reason (horrible work environment, horrible morale) passed right along to TSA. Is that some kind of coincidence? Or is it a consequence of how Obama & Co. operates? You tell me.
I count the seconds until this inept, incompetent, grotesquely damaging administration is over.
