Posted on 09/22/2005 7:57:13 AM PDT by Millee
ulie Myers is 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee to the Bush administration with limited executive experience.
Yet, she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Myers appointment, in the wake of FEMA's disastrous handling of the Katrina Hurricane and the resignation of its chief, Michael Brown, has people from both sides of the political aisle raising hackles.
"The Bush administration has barely rebounded from the resignation of horse show organizer Michael ‘Heck of a job' Brown from FEMA, and yet is pushing forward with the nomination of another inexperienced bureaucrat to a key post at the Department of Homeland Security," conservative syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin railed in an article out this week.
Despite the obvious résumé problems, the Bush administration is not likely to back down on the appointment.
Myers' uncle is none other than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers.
And Myers' husband is DHS chief Michael Chertoff's current chief of staff, John F. Wood.
Great contacts, but "what exactly are the 36-year-old lawyer's main credentials to solve ... dire national security problems?" asks Malkin in her op-head piece.
"Zip, Nada, Nil," answers Malkin.
Story Continues Below
Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also worried that tapping the relatively inexperienced Myers may engender down the pike another debacle like that of Katrina fall-guy Michael D. Brown, the recently resigned head of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
At a Senate hearing last week, rumblings over Myers were apparent, according to the Washington Post, with Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, at one point baldly concluding that Myers' résumé indicated that she is "not qualified for the position."
Voinovich further announced at the time that he wanted to meet with Chertoff to discuss Myers' qualifications. "I'd really like to have him spend some time with us, telling us personally why he thinks you're qualified for the job..."
Part of that highly scrutinized résumé indicates that Julie L. Myers was nominated by President Bush on June 26, 2003, and confirmed by the Senate on October 17, 2003, to serve as the assistant secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce. During her brief tenure in her Commerce position, Myers was responsible for developing and coordinating the Department's efforts to prevent, and where necessary, sanction violations of U.S. dual-use export control laws and the anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act.
She also managed Commerce Special Agents who work at eight field offices in the United States, and oversaw the Export Enforcement's international attache program.
At Commerce, Myers oversaw just 170 federal employees and managed a budget of $25 million. In her new job heading up ICE, Myers will be expected to manage more than 20,000 employees and a $4 billion budget.
The White House has been emphasizing that Myers' role in sanctioning violations of U.S. dual-use export control laws and the anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act represents solid law enforcement experience.
As Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman, told the Washington Post: "She's well-known and respected throughout the law enforcement community ... She has a proven track record as an effective manager."
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Myers served as the chief of staff of the Criminal Division for then-assistant attorney general Michael Chertoff at the Department of Justice.
Before that, she served as the deputy assistant secretary for Money Laundering and Financial Crimes at the Department of Treasury. She also worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York and as an Associate Independent Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for Kenneth W. Starr.
"I realize that I'm not 80 years old," Myers testified recently on Capitol Hill. "I have a few gray hairs, more coming, but I will seek to work with those who are knowledgeable in this area, who know more than I do."
Malkin couldn't let that nugget slide without comment: "Please, spare us the not-so-clever rejoinders about age and wisdom. Reagan could pull them off. Myers can't. Why hire someone who needs to ‘seek to work' with those ‘who know more than I do' in order to her job?"
After Sept. 11, Immigration, then a Justice Dept. agency, was heavily criticized for failing to stop many of the al Qaida hijackers from entering the U.S. or having them deported, as many of them were here illegally.
Malkin says Myers' appointment in light of Sept. 11 is worrisome.
"Myers may be perfectly capable of writing legal briefs and organizing policy conferences," Malkin writes. "I'm sure her knowledge of export controls is second to none. But as long as the borders are broken and al Qaida continues to exploit lax immigration enforcement, she has no business heading ICE - or any other DHS agency."
The head of ICE is required by statute to have at least five years of experience in both law enforcement and management. That requirement alone spells a world of difference between Myers and Brown, the latter having joined FEMA with no experience in disaster preparedness.
But the experience factor aside, Myers has yet another headache in the works. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is threatening to use legislative delaying tactics against Myers' nomination - until he receives a secret FBI memo about terror suspect interrogations that he's been seeking for months, according to the Associated Press.
At the heart of Levin's issue is a heavily abridged May 2004 e-mail from FBI agents seeking guidance about questioning terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay.
As far back as February, Democratic senators were asking for an unedited version of the memo to see if it mentioned or involved Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003.
However, the Justice Department has consistently nixed the request, saying the memos contain "information covered by the Privacy Act," and had nothing to do with Chertoff.
Myers was Chertoff's chief of staff at the time.
Just goes to show what Bush thinks of immigration and customs. You think he would have learned after appointing that boob to FEMA.
2.Myers' uncle is none other than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers.
3. And Myers' husband is DHS chief Michael Chertoff's current chief of staff, John F. Wood.
This is just so wrong.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
You are exactly right, Malkin is becoming a shrew overnight. I used to have a lot of respect for her, and even though she is quite young herself she did her homework and is very well written. For the last several years, she has built her reputation mostly on immigration issues. I stopped reading her columns because she is getting nastier and more strident, and seems to be all immigration all the time. She sounds like Pat Buchanan now instead of the well researched well thought out Journalist. There is nothing wrong with Julie Myers getting the job, she has great credentials including her Uncle. Tancredo and Malken are both one note Johnny types and are not worth reading anymore, and that is a shame. I think Chris Matthews changed Michelle and she will never be the same. Another reason to hate his guts.
I always wondered what would happen if they took a "No Shit" type Border Patrol inspector and made him the head of the agency.
Nothing but good could come from such an appointment....
Liberals and criminal support infastructure would implode IMO....
Why do you think that is? Could it be that this administration has ignored the issue for several years and allowed illegals unabated?
Malkin, like many of us honest, law-abiding citizens, are getting frustrated with Bush's complete lack of attention to the invasion occurring under his own eyes.
When will you become shrill at the illegal invasion? After they have taken over your neighborhood, forced your children to learn spanish (or Urdu) to accommodate them or when someone from your family is killed or raped and the perpetrator flees back across the border to avoid prosecution, only to return under a different name with Bush's tacit approval.
Regardless of what party is in power..., "Political Patronage" trumps any consideration of real demonstrated ability!!!
The same was true 200 years ago AND (if we still exist as a nation) 200+ years from now!
Alas, 'tis true. The above conditions were also involved in promoting a young , female Boston lawyer and Clinton supporter to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Her name is Jane Garvey. She never flew an airplane. Prior to the FAA, she was made the administrator of Boston's, Logan Airport for her support of local Democrat politicians. Jane Garvey was head of the FAA on 11 Sept. 2001. Sometimes ability does matter, even in the seemingly most unimportant (?) of government departments.
I wonder if the nations lawyers would welcome the nomination to the Supreme Court of the pilot who, just yesterday, expertly landed the JetBlue liner with its nose wheel askew ? Sometimes, ability does matter.
This person has absolutely no business heading BICE, and Bush has given no clearer signal that he doesn't give a damn about immigration and security issues than to nominate her.
A rhetorical question I assume? Obviously..., the answer is a resounding no.
Where the Appellate and Supreme Courts are involved... "perceived ideology" trumps all! Fortunately, real ability shine through (so long as the nominee has been discreet in his/her writings)!
As an aside, the pilot and crew moved maximum weight aft, lightening the load on the nose gear and brought the bird down in a supurb fashion! I wonder what the hell is the matter with the nosegear geometry on those aircraft?
While I have dealt with missing brake pucks/blown tires/hydraulic brake failures, etc...., I never had to deal with a gear extension which was 90 degrees off center!!! I doubt that many folks have ever had to do so!
empty suits, empty skirts - nothing new here.
To be sure.
I wonder what the hell is the matter with the nosegear geometry on those aircraft?
I suppose that we'll just have to wait for the NTSB report. With the amount of cycle/re-cycle testing of the landing gear in the prototype and certification process, it's not likely to be a design flaw, but probably a defect involving the failure of a small electrical or hydraulic part, or both. However, it would be a prudent design that retracted and extended all landing gear wheels in the direction of flight rather than rotate like the mains of a P-40 or F4U Corsair.
My money is it's a falure of the SOFTWARE!.........(/sarcasm)......;^)
Thanks for your insightful reply. You have personal knowledge of the Myers that few can claim. Let us hope you're right and she is allowed to do her job w.r.t. the porous borders.
Yeah, me, either. But after reading her resume/bio., and seeing there that she's academically prepared to enforce pretty much whatever is requested of her to do so, it seems that "immigration control" is not so much an issue of academics and laws so much as it is the interpretation of whoever employs the enforcers.
In this case, she's answerable to the Bush Administration and it seems that it's a case of "immigrantion control" as being whatever the Adminsitration has in mind, not so much what is on the books.
Just to clarify, I think that's also so with ANY Administration, not just that of Bush. But it has to change. We have an American government today that is "interpeting" laws/legislation and no one's so much enforcing anything as they are applying "interpretations" and "attitudes."
Or maybe I'm only now noticing.
But who could replace Vicente and keep all those people moving OUT of Mexico? He's done wonders in that area.
Geez.., who'd thunk of that???
I prefer Ollie North.
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