How to Improve Homeland Security
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, March 05, 2008 | 10:30 AM
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, March 05, 2008 | 10:30 AM
From DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff's roundtable with bloggers Sunday:
Question: What else would you propose that Congress do, just to make the functionality of the department work better?Chertoff: I think consolidating us; I think funding our budget requests for the not-particularly-glamorous-but-indispensable things having to do with management, acquisition capability, IT capability. You know, this is stuff which -- you know, when they're trying to make the budget at the end, and often, in order to have more money for grants, they cut that stuff. And the problem is when you cut that stuff, invariably what happens is, six months later, we get a criticism for, we're not managing our acquisitions well. Well, you can't manage your acquisitions well if you can't hire people to do it.
Comments
All the stats for Homeland security are up, drug seisures, deportation, arrest of illegals. Looks like all the crying and whinning is for not DHS is working better than the old fracrured system
dan ketter | Friday, March 07, 2008 | 12:21 PMBring up Moral in DHS
I can not speak for all DHS agencies, but the 4 1/2 years I worked for TSA it was the biggest waste of tax payers money I have ever scene. You can not be effective as a reactionary force, PROACTIVE is the solution. Give employees assignments make them feel wanted, instead of the "There are 10,000 people behind you that want your job" I ran out of fingers and toes trying to keep count as many times I heard that.
The Federal Air Marshal Service has a couple class actions law suites coming to a head, and the FAMS will have to change the way they do business and pay out millions when the loose.
Sad part is management knew exactly what they were doing, and will still get there 20,000 dollar bonus at the end of the year.
JAJ | Thursday, March 06, 2008 | 09:16 AMMore, more and more more. More technology, more Feds, more space, more training and oh - mo money. Joe, there has never been an agency that has ever refused new technology, more equipment or more FTE - and DHS has been given more than anybody else over the last five years, but has DHS really changed anything, broken any stovepies, maximized the use of public and private capital, tried new ways to solve old problems other than to ask for more? Maybe, but, its a very short list. Here was an opportunity to push Congress to eliminate barriers to efficiencies, competition, the use of performance metrics, hiring flexibilities, new approaches to oversight, and the sale of excess assets. No, asking for more is easier and its a better excuse.
Sorry, Mr. Kernan, but do you work for Mr. Chertoff? DHS was an ill-conceived, ridulous mistake by Congress to belatedly fix longstanding problems between the 'alphbet agencies', i.e. FBI, DEA, etc. It has resulted in NO increase in security, mass retirements, hiring has dropped, and most of the posts re this issue from the people actually doing the job are negative. Try reading THEIR posts, then print them up and re-read them again and again. Just turn out the lights, and put back the agencies in their original categories. But, of course, that won't happen. So glad to be free of this mess.
US Customs Senior Inspector (Retired) | Thursday, March 06, 2008 | 08:57 AMMr. Chertoff and his team have brought the various legacy agencies that now make up DHS out of the modern age and into the information age. His achievements far outweigh any criticism that can be brought. Once the new lines of communication and information that have been opened throughout the administration are understood by all of the DHS team, administration of resources will become increasingly more effective. Chertoff's legacy is that he built the DHS system that will be in place for a long time, and future directors will benefit from it.
Joe Kernan | Wednesday, March 05, 2008 | 04:33 PMMr. Chertoff restates the problem but offers no solution. Is this the quality of leadership that we want as a nation?
US | Wednesday, March 05, 2008 | 12:29 PMABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.
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