J.
As I said before, you damn sure aren’t much of an investigator and would be a hell of a lot worse prosecutor.
Not one of the offenses you list, could be substantiated, as your spurious allegations are simply not true.
Dereliction of Duty and Misuse of government property? I’m able to do my job, and use the computer to spar with you, all at the same time, never failing to perform my duties. You see, some of us are actually very capable of multi-tasking. LOL
Conduct unbecoming? Conduct unbecoming what? Because I defend the agency I work for, and the people that lead it, against knuckleheads who haven’t a clue, and who through their own lies and twisted logic are attempting to convince the world that ICE is doomed? We’ll see if that ever gets any traction. LOL
Cowards find someone else to fight for them, because they can’t stand up for themselves. You aren’t “big” enough to take me on by yourself (with the rest of your vocal minority buddies), so you drop a dime to OPR/OIG, huh? What a baby.
I seriously doubt OIG and OPR want to fight for you, but hey, maybe I’m wrong.
Come on down, this Sheepdog hasn’t even broke a sweat in this little skirmish.
EVS
P.S. ICEland, If you are still monitoring this post, I’d like to thank you again for your tip on the book “LONE SURVIVOR”.
My Amazon order arrived yesterday, and this book looks like it’s going to be well worth the time and money. I got another in the same order, titled “MY MEN ARE MY HEROES” , the Brad Kasal Story, which is the stry of the Brutal Fight for Fallujah. I’ll let you know later, but it looks very good as well.
The title page starts with “Failure was not an Option”. I subscribe to that theory, and wish a whole bunch more people would to.
Work Safe friends,
EVS

EverVigilantSheepdog on August 2, 2007 at 5:56 am

EVS,
You clearly know about the SAC/NO AOR, so I’ll just ask a few questions. First, was the legacy INS ADDI who was an acting ASAC offered a permanent 15 ASAC job in New Orleans before he left, or was an offer for a job in Florida all that was made available? Two, were any legacy Customs 14 ASACS or Group Sups in New Orleans offered permanent 15 ASAC postions in New Orleans at the time the legacy INS ADDI was only offered a job in Florida? Three, in all this shuffling of management of late, was the only promotion above GS by a Legacy INS person the RAC in Birmingham? There wasn’t one legacy INS 14 out there (other than the new FOD in New Orleans) who the management team in New Orleans thought would make a good, permanent ASAC in the 4 plus year history of ICE?
Now, I’ve got no real problems with the SAC New Orleans management team as it comes to the treatment of the legacy INS agents. I know lots of folks in other places who had it way worse. But it is just wrong to pretend that the management of ICE (and SAC New Orleans) isn’t just now realizing that it might make sense to have someone with a grasp of immigration law enforcement in the upper managment of the SAC offices. It is wrong to pretend that SAC New Orleans made any effort to move Legacy INS folks into upper management in the AOR before the past two months or so. I’ll remind you, that in the first 4 years of ICE, not one legacy INS G/S was promoted to RAC or G/S in the New Orleans AOR, and not one legacy INS journeyman was promoted to G/S. Not one before late spring of this year.
And that includes the G/S in Mobile who took the newly promoted Legacy Customs ASAC who was promoted in place there (well after the merger, I might add).
But at least it does seem to be happening in the field, because certainly hasn’t occured in HQ, where the Director, Deputy Director, and the heads of East and West Operations are all legacy Customs.
I’m not trying to pick a fight with you EVS, because as I said, I think you have the best interest of the agency at heart. But a little soul searching by the legacy USCS decision makers who have been running ICE for the past 4 years would possibly help avoid some problems in the future. Ya’ll DID come late to the realization that the immigration mission isn’t going away and is important to Congress and the American people. Now use this late blooming knowledge to try to repair the harm you did by your poor treatment of the INS folks and perhaps we can finally move towards the integrated, competent agency that I truly believe you want.

SouthernICE1811 on August 2, 2007 at 11:25 pm

I’ll remind you, that in the first 4 years of ICE, not one legacy INS G/S was promoted to RAC or ASAC in the New Orleans AOR, and not one legacy INS journeyman was promoted to G/S.
Sorry, in the above line in the above post, I wrote “promoted to RAC or G/S” when what I meant was “promoted to RAC or ASAC.”

SouthernICE1811 on August 2, 2007 at 11:28 pm

SouthernICE1811,
I appreciate your post, and will attempt to answer your questions, without giving up so much that it would be obvious to the “coconuts” who deperately want to know my true identity, and also being mindful of privacy concerns of the people involved.
I wasn’t aware that the legacy INS ADDI we are talking about (and I hope we’re talking about the same guy :)was offered a job in FL. I know for a fact that he was selected for a permanent GS-1811-15 ASAC position in New Orleans. Something (which I won’t go into for personal privacy reasons) prevented him from ever getting that job. The SAC NO stood by this guy to the end, insisiting that he get the job, but in the end, the guy chose to retire.
Because I don’t know anything about the “Florida job offer” I’m not sure I can answer your second question.
After the merger, it is my understanding that there were two Associate SAC’s (15’s), and four Assistant SAC’s (GS-1811-14) in New Orleans, three L/C, one L/I.
Once HQS devised the “template” it was determined that the SAC/NO would have a SAC, a DSAC, and 4 GS-1811-15 ASAC’s in New Orleans, and one each in Mobile, and Memphis.
The DSAC (L/C) came from Phoenix where he’d been acting as the SAC. One sitting permanent Associate SAC was made an ASAC, one acting Associate SAC (fellow we were talking about) was made an acting ASAC, one sitting GS-14 ASAC was promoted to ASAC, and a fourth ASAC came from the GS ranks. Three GS-14 ASAC’s, two L/C and one L/I were passed over for promotion to ASAC GS-1811-15.
I know for a fact, that the SAC in NO has tried, and is trying to promote qualified/experienced legacy INS people into mangement positions. I can’t be more specific without violating a trust, and or someones privacy, and I’ll not do that for the purposes of this discussion.
Also, heads of East and West are actors, as HQS is trying to find someone that will come into the CAB and take that beating on a regular basis, and that’s proving to be a tough sell. LOL Currently it’s the SAC/San Antonio and the SAC/Tampa.
Don’t know if this helps, but I gave it my best shot, considering the early morning hour.
Work Safe SoutherICE1811, and look after your partners.
EVS

EverVigilantSheepdog on August 3, 2007 at 4:31 am

Too bad the SAC couldn’t find a job for you in the SAC/NO, lapdawg. New Orleans has always been known as a “whacko jacko” march to their own beat office. Now we know why. The end is near my over vigilant friend.

J Leyn on August 3, 2007 at 8:50 am

J.
You have been wrong so many times, told you’ve been wrong so many times, and you refuse to listen. You don’t know a friggin thing about the Big Easy, but you take shot’s anyway.
Your lack of intelligence, demonstrated repeatedly on this site over at least the last two months speaks volumes about your character.
I’m going to put you in the same boat with QtothCore and 1shot1kill, and do my best to ignore your small minded posts.
You never offer anything of substance, just BS attempting (but falling short) of pissing me off. You aren’t worth the effort, because here, like in your real life, you are irrelevant.
Have a nice life,
THE EverVigilantSheepdog

EverVigilantSheepdog on August 4, 2007 at 4:30 am

EVS,
I guess one or the other of us has some wrong information on the old ADDI in New Orleans, or perhaps each of us just has some of the information but neither of us knows the whole story. Thanks for sharing what you know, and as I’ve already done the same, we can just move on from there.
I will just once again make the point that in 4 plus years, if the management team in New Orleans had wanted a legacy INS ASAC (permanent 15), there would have been one by now. You say one is coming soon, but at this point, I’ll just have to say I’ll believe it when I see it. With that being said, I don’t think they should hire someone unqualified for the post just because they have an immigration background (or for that matter, just because they have a customs background or know the right people). But if a real effort had been made, there was a competent GS-14 from the INS side of the house out there somewhere who would have accepted the promtion to ASAC in New Orleans, Mobile, or Memphis (which has been filled twice since the merger with legacy Customs managers).
I do applaud the late move to promote some legacy Immigration folks to RAC jobs (well, just the one in Birmingham, but you implied that Texarkana may see a similar move), but the troops have noticed the managment moves the past four years. The implication of hiring only legacy Customs for upper management is that the immigration mission doesn’t require any real background, knowledge, or experiene so anyone can do it. Just give them two weeks cross training and you can send someone with no prior immigration experience out to represent the SAC in 287(g) meetings. Or letting a legacy Customs ASAC (14)who was retiring withdraw his retirement paperwork and promote him to a 15 ASAC. This after he skipped the crosstraining because he was retiring and was never required to make it up after he unretired. These things are noticed by the filed agents, and it clearly demonstrates the attitude of management toward the immigration mission.
This kind of thinking is what led to the missteps with worksite operations in the past year. Nothing new happened in any of those operations, but the lack of institutionial knowledge about immigration law enforcement in HQ and the SAC offices made it appear that everyone was taken by complete suprise by the community and press reaction. When you sit down and plan an operation, you need more than one or two folks with some knowledge of what to expect to make a real plan. Just having the 20 legacy Customs folks look at the one or two Immigration folks and say, “How does this sound?” doesn’t cut it.
Perhaps that is truly being addressed now, and perhaps the management of the agency has put aside their distaste and disdain for immigration law enforcement and decided to instead embrace rather than ignore it and hope DRO or someone else will take it over. But after 4 plus years (and as I said, I think New Orleans had it better than lots of other places), I’m just going to have to ask them to prove it.

SouthernICE1811 on August 4, 2007 at 12:09 pm

SouthernICE1811,
I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have a dialogue with someone, without all the petty crap and vulgar/emotional name calling that often makes up the bulk of one’s post.
Let me try to clear up a couple things. As I said earlier, the Special Agent in Charge in New Orleans is a close personal friend.
We’ve known each other for over 20 years, and have been together in the good times, and the bad times. We talk daily, about the job as well as life in general.
I’m confident, and would bet a paycheck on it, that what I tell you here is the pure truth. Not hearsay, not overhears, not rumor. The coconuts will have fun with that, but you know what I mean.
You said “I will just once again make the point that in 4 plus years, if the management team in New Orleans had wanted a legacy INS ASAC (permanent 15), there would have been one by now.”
The SAC New Orleans has tried to promote a legacy INS 14 into an ASAC position from day one. As I said before, the legacy INS agent known by his friends as “Big Dog” was selected, and served as an actor until he chose to retire.
His number two, prior to the merger, was/is the most outstanding talent left in New Orleans, and he chose to take the DRO FOD job. Nobody blames him for this, it was his decision, for his reasons. He’s a good man, who makes his decisions for the right reasons, and to quote a beer commerical, “it doesn’t get any better than that” having an Agent (deep down in his soul) in charge of DRO. He would have been the next ASAC 15 in New Orleans, without a doubt, had he not chosen the path he took.
You also have to understand the promotion list cycle. We don’t get to say when they open announcements, etc.. (though it would be nice) This guy (the number two) wasn’t on the first list. The SAC/NO purposely kept an ASAC vacancy empty, sharing the workload amongst the existing ASAC’s, so that this guy could get selected when the announcement was opened again.
You also said “Or letting a legacy Customs ASAC (14)who was retiring withdraw his retirement paperwork and promote him to a 15 ASAC”.
If this is who I think you mean, you have it wrong. Probably not your fault, as all personnel matters have privacy concerns, and if you are an agent in the office, you wouldn’t have access to that information unless you were in the inner-circle of executive leadership, or personal friends with that person, and he told you.
If you are referring to the last GS-15 ASAC promoted in New Orleans though, you are misinformed.
He wasn’t about to retire, had a bunch more years before he was even eligible, and when he was passed over for promotion two years earlier, he sucked it up, got over it, and went to work proving he was ASAC material. He proved, without a shadow of a doubt that he had what it takes to be an ASAC.
If we’re talking about the same guy, he did have the cross-training (though I’ll admit that’s so CYA it’s not even funny), and he “gets it” well enough, that he’s essentially running the 287(g) program Nationally, while in HQS on an extended TDY as we speak. You can’t do that and fake it my friend.
I know the SAC is hopeful, though concerned, that Director Forman will never let him return to New Orleans, because of the outstanding job he’s doing up there. The old “no good deed ever goes unpunished” in play here. 🙂
You also mentioned, almost as an aside, the two ASAC selections in Memphis and Mobile. You are right that two legacy Customs agents were selected for those positions. Let me tell you about these guys, in case you don’t know them. The one in Tennesse, had been an agent in the New Orleans AOR for years, before being drafted/transferred to El Paso, TX as part of a push back before the merger to plus up the SW border with senior, experienced agents. He went, and prospered. He was promoted to a Group Supervisor, ASAC-14, and then ASAC-15 while in El Paso. He served as the Acting Deputy SAC, and the Acting SAC while in El Paso, and if you know anything about El Paso, you know it’s a pressure cooker, where everything always goes wrong at the least opportune time. He handled it all with skill and finess, and when the SAC/New Orleans had an opportunity to bring him home, and put him over a state far away from New Orleans, he jumped at the chance. With an ASAC of that caliber, the SAC doesn’t have to worry that things won’t be done right, the first time, in TN. One less worry for the SAC.
Same goes for AL. The ASAC selected there, is an extremely talented agent, who’s worked or had a hand in some of the largest cases that Customs ever worked. He’s been the designated “trouble shooter” for HQS, having done an extended year long TDY in PR on a massive money laundering investigation, and he also served for a year on the hill, assigned to Congressional Affairs. He’s an attorney (the good kind) that has his proverbial shit together.
Futhermore, after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the Special Agent in Charge placed the responsibility for running the show in New Orleans (over 800 ICE Agents and 8 ICE SRT Teams) on this man. He ran it, I’d submit, better than I could have, and with grace, never losing his sense of humor. That was a huge job, and he proved, during this “battlefield promotion” that he was the next ASAC for the SAC/New Orleans.
Knowing all this, can you argue that there is someone better?
Nobody should be selecting people that aren’t the best possible candidate for a position, based on their legacy agency. Must be qualified, and the best fit for the leadership team.
Work Safe,
EVS

EverVigilantSheepdog on August 5, 2007 at 7:02 am

EVS,
Thanks for your response, and I do admit that some of the things I hear in the field are nothing more than informed rumours. For clarification, the ASAC I’m referring to isn’t the one over the 287(g), it’s the one who has since retired.
I don’t know the ASAC from El Paso, but I have met the ASAC in Mobile and found him to be extremely competent and professional. My point wasn’t that the SAC hasn’t chosen qualified people for the posts, it’s that the legacy INS folks in the field see all these selections and wonder if there is any hope for future advancement for them. But you have clearly laid out the case that there is hope, and if I’m just patient, I’ll see it in action. I’ve got no reason not to believe you, so I’ll just wait and see.
I’ve got a job to do, and I do it to the best of my ability no matter who my managers are. Luckily, I’ve had good ones from both sides of the house, and the bad ones didn’t affect me too much anyway. No doubt the SAC in New Orleans did a difficult job transitioning New Orleans from the old Customs SAC’s reign of terror to one that is a pretty good place to work. So Kudo’s to him and his staff, and lets hope that what you predict comes true so some of these concerns I’ve addressed can be put to bed.
I don’t envy the position you’ve put yourself in as a defender of ICE. I and everyone else in ICE knows we have problems, but I really detest folks who run down the job outside of the “family.” I may not always do it right, but I try to bring up issues that have solutions, and do it in a way that leads to discussion, not insults or arguments. It may not solve any problems, but at least it doesn’t create new ones along the way. So thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and respond to my concerns. If you are what you say you are, then I look forward to some better things. If you are just blowing smoke, at least we had a nice conversation with no insults.

SouthernICE1811 on August 5, 2007 at 6:41 pm

SouthernICE1811,
Appreciate your comments.
Everything I’ve said is true, and I am a Sheepdog of my word. 🙂 It’s going to get to better my friend. Just gotta keep leaning forward in the saddle, respecting each other, keeping an open mind, and we’ll get there.
Work safe,
EVS

EverVigilantSheepdog on August 8, 2007 at 8:27 am

A good and factual response to Fed (AZ) lawsuit and law enforcement responsibilities: http://mexidata.info/id2733.html

Jerry Brewer on July 10, 2010 at 10:47 am

The most common reasons for discontinuation were twitching (described as motor or vocal tics), anorexia, insomnia, and tachycardia (approximately 1% each). ,

mcnxvbzA on June 3, 2011 at 8:39 pm