Posted on 07/09/2007 1:19:57 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Quoted from the House Committee on Homeland Security:
July 9, 2007 - Committee on Homeland Security, identified in a staff report that nearly one quarter of the senior leadership positions located in the Department of Homeland Security are vacant. The overall senior leadership vacancies, termed "executive resources," total 24%, and refer to positions in the highest salary bands (including political appointments) of the Federal government.
In addition to the critical leadership vacancies, the report finds that an unusually high number of critical national security jobs at the Department of Homeland Security are filled by political appointees. This identifies an enormous security vulnerability should an attack or disaster occur during the upcoming presidential transition.
"Homeland Security was bruised when the country learned that Michael Brown, an Arabian horse aficionado, was running FEMA. But what's worse than a Homeland Security organization with poor leadership is a homeland security organization with no leadership," commented Rep. Thompson. "Not just a national security concern, DHS's lack of leadership has triggered record-low employee morale, an immeasurable disservice to the hundreds of thousands of men and woman working on the front lines to protect our country," added Rep. Thompson.
Breaking down the numbers:
As of May 1, 2007 there were 575 "executive resource" positions at DHS. 138 of these were vacant (24%).
These vacancies can be found throughout the Department in a number of critical components and administrative functions. Just a few examples:
48% leadership vacancies at the Asst. Sec. for Policy (11 of 23 leadership slots vacant).
47% leadership vacancies at the Office of Gen. Counsel (9 of 19 leadership slots vacant).
36% leadership vacancies at the Asst. Sec. for Intelligence (8 of 22 leadership slots vacant).
34% leadership vacancies at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (16 of 47 slots vacant).
31% leadership vacancies at FEMA (24 of 77 vacant).
31% leadership vacancies at ICE (19 of 62 vacant).
29% leadership vacancies at the Coast Guard (4 of 14 slots vacant).
Executive Summary
The Department of Homeland Security became operational in the spring of 2003. This ambitious undertaking pulled together 22 existing Federal organizations into a single new Departmental entity. Since that time, contracting abuses, poor leadership, and low employee moral have been endemic. As pointed out by the National Journal in its June 2 issue, one of the continuing problems appears to be the over politicization of the top ranks of Department management. This is evident in the fact that some 24 percent of all Department top positions are now vacant. This could lead to heightened vulnerability to terrorist attack when the new administration is installed in January of 2009 and the political appointees who now run the Department exit without ensuring continuity of operations. The gaping hole in Department executive resources is a homeland security issue that must be addressed and rectified immediately.
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss
The report comes just weeks after a congressional hearing that took the Department of Homeland Security and its CIO, Scott Charbo, to task for weaknesses in the department's computer network. A report came out at the hearing that the department suffered 844 "cybersecurity incidents" within a two-year period.
According to Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology, the incidents ranged from workstations infected with Trojans and viruses to a compromised department Web site, classified e-mails being sent over unclassified networks, and unauthorized users attaching their personal computers to DHS networks and gaining access to government equipment and data. He also said the incidents included "numerous classified data spillages."
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201000218
Get Root !
It’s kind of hard to imagine a top notch intelligence or security professional taking a job in DC at government salary levels. Not to mention that we are nearing the end of term for an unpopular administration, with a scandal mongering congress and press.
So, they are wondering why they can’t fill these jobs with industry pros instead of political appointees?
Frankly, I’d take a smart, young appointee with a fresh perspective over whoever they could find to fill these.
Who cares if they fill the jobs? We’ve gotten more security from a sales clerk at Circuit City then we’ve got from the thousands of bureaucrats who work for Homeboy Security !!!
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