2nd pick for transportation security chief is out [another vetting failure]

Wapo ^ | 03/25/10 | Eileen Sullivan

[freespirited]

President Barack Obama's second nominee for transportation security chief withdrew from consideration Friday because of questions over his background as a defense contractor.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself out of the running as head of the Transportation Security Administration, another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January because he faced a tough confirmation struggle in Congress. The Obama administration has called the job the most important unfilled position on Obama's team.

"I feel that the distractions caused by my work as a defense contractor would not be good for this administration nor for the Department of Homeland Security," Harding said in a late-evening statement released by the White House. The agency is part of Homeland Security. ...

[After his military career], Harding became a government consultant on human intelligence and counterintelligence, selling his company in 2009.

Questions arose after his nomination about a contract his company had with the government to provide interrogators in Iraq. After the government ended the contract early, in 2004, Harding Security Associates claimed more money from termination of the contract than the Defense Department's inspector general said it was entitled to get. The firm refunded $1.8 million of that money in a 2008 settlement with the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The announcement about Harding came late on a Friday, a period favored by the government for releasing uncomfortable news because the public's attention is light. There was no immediate word on finding another nominee. ...

[freespirited]

Further evidence that incompetents are running the asylum. As if we needed it.

[LeoWindhorse]

I don’t think any truly good men want to work for this Administration . They may feel they would be forever sullied if they did .

[5thGenTexan]

Do we have a count of failed nominations? We need to get this data and try to get the RNC (or someone) to run an ad campaign this fall and in the 2012 campaign season.

Culture of Corruption, indeed.

[Jenny217]

I’m not convinced it is vetting failure. I think they are picking exactly who they had in mind. Considering the quality of the administration their picks seem to match perfectly.

[Dinah Lord]

You know this is the first I’ve heard of this guy. Seems to me the ones raising the objections this time must have been the moonbats and it’s because of the dreaded I word

INTERROGATION.

Meanwhile, here we are over a year into the Obama administration without a TSA security chief...

Just goes to show you how serious these dolts take our national security.

[KeyLargo]

Another Obama TSA nomination collapses
posted at 9:17 am on March 27, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

It has now been over 14 months, and the Obama administration still hasn’t successfully appointed a person to run the Transportation Security Administration, the agency that provides security at the nation’s airports. Barack Obama didn’t even get around to nominating a candidate until September 2009, and his first choice, Errol Southers, had to withdraw when earlier incidents of Southers’ abuses of sensitive information surfaced. Late yesterday his second choice, retired General Robert Harding, also withdrew, this time over allegations of potential procurement fraud:

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/27/another-obama-tsa-nomination-collapses/

[KeyLargo]