Posted on 06/04/2006 5:26:54 AM PDT by NorthEasterner
Edited on 06/04/2006 5:51:09 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Sleep well, America By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Michael Hayden, right?
Well, three weeks ago he was. But after his lopsided 78-15 confirmation vote to head the CIA, that statement -- uttered on Fox News Sunday by U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee -- proved to be wrong.
In fact, Hayden's crushing bipartisan support proved the programs he initiated under the National Security Agency were accepted across the aisle.
So, is there is a real wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Given our messy borders and chaotic response to disasters, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff seems fair game.
During the Clinton era he definitely was the right person in the right place at the right time. Either that or really, really lucky. You see, Chertoff, a Bush 41 appointee, holds the distinction of being the only U.S. attorney not fired when Clinton took office.
Political oddities aside, you have to wonder if he knows what office he runs. It is not the office of press conferences and motorcades. In these he most certainly excels.
It is the Department of Homeland Security. "Homeland" as in "where we live," and "Security" as in "what we don't have, at least at our borders."
First rule of war: Secure your borders. Last time I checked, we have been at war since Sept. 11, 2001.
Yet it has taken a spanking by the politics of immigration for Chertoff to notice that we have a bring-your-own-illegal problem at our borders.
Then there was that whole Katrina thing. "Abysmal response to the wrath of Mother Nature" pretty much sums that one up.
Chertoff has done little to tighten the belt of DHS's bulging girth -- its epidemic bureaucracy and 21 stepchild agencies all living under one roof that all need reorganization.
More important, DHS is charged with designing and building systems that will defend the nation. But it is having a little problem enforcing all of that; it is too mired down in memos, report cards and mindless press conferences.
And Chertoff's formula-driven method of determining which "at risk" region deserves DHS money is a math equation gone bad. If you need any proof, consider his decision to cut New York's funding by 40 percent, the same city that has been hit twice by terrorist attacks.
Michael Chertoff is certainly no dummy. He served as a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as a federal prosecutor, as an assistant U.S. attorney general -- a pretty impressive resume.
But didn't anyone notice that he has a complete lack of essential expertise to take on emergency...
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is Mayor Nagin on steroids!
They have diverted attention from BlankO and Nagin with regard to Katrina and now his refusal to bow to union demands for more more more money for NY, they're on the attack again.
They only ones that have that kind of background .. responding to high-risk, think-on-your-feet situations is the Military itself
Good luck in getting Congress to hand that power over to the Military
Cherty, you're doing a heck-of-a job with the borders.
The blue-states see HS funds as free cash to prop-up their socialist collectives. It's like a homeless-alcoholic asking for $20.00... with his word of spending it on a sit-down dinner. AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.
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