September 4, 2005, - 1:19 pm
No Confidence: DHS Agents Agree Chertoff is a Failure
By Debbie Schlussel and Anonymous DHS Special Agent
While there is plenty of blame to go around regarding the Hurricaid aftermath, Homeland Security Secretary , and he must go. Watching him, this morning, on the Sunday political shows, this is doubly so. Fluent in Homeland Security Ebonics, he is a bureaucratic lawyer skilled at making up new words, like “de-water” (Ye Olde English: “drain”) and “pre-staged” (“planned”?), to make it look like he is actually doing something. But a genuine Homeland Security chief he is not. (A column to follow.)
I got this e-mail, below, Friday, from a friend who is a longtime federal agent in what is now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This agent–a very bright man, patriotic American, and principled conservative, whose views I highly respect–is right on the mark. He is one of many DHS agents who have contacted me regarding their total lack of confidence in Chertoff.
(For those DHS officials reading this and wondering: No, this agent does not work in Michigan or Ohio–the domains of Homeland Security failure, a/k/a Abu Moskowitz, ICE Special Agent “In Charge.”)
Here is the e-mail, which is must reading (Michael Garcia is the past head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement–ICE, and Julie L. Myers is his yet-to-be confirmed replacement (more on her in the upcoming Chertoff column)). . . .
Debbie:
I just saw Bush and Chertoff on the south lawn of the
White House, about to get on Marine One for their trip
to the Gulf Coast. With Chertoff standing beside him,
Bush said the relief efforts, thus far, are, “not
acceptable.” Well, putting a political hack and
unproven leader like Chertoff in charge of Homeland
Security is not acceptable either. Chertoff is the
department head over FEMA. IMO, the failure of FEMA
in this disaster is staggering.
I don’t work for FEMA, but even I, a person not
trained in emergency relief efforts, spent all of
about 15 minutes and came up with five significant
things they could have done to give immediate relief
for the people still in New Orleans — the basics:
water, food, sanitation, and security. How is it
these so-called expert disaster relief planners at
FEMA failed this badly? Did they not have a plan for
what happened, or did they simply not execute it?
I have been a huge Bush supporter up to now, and I
want him to see this and the Iraq war through to
completion, but his administration – specifically the
Department of Homeland Security, the department I work
for – has failed badly. I hold President Bush
responsible for putting incompetent people in charge
of these agencies.
Also, two days ago Chertoff came out with a request
for volunteers from other DHS agencies to be
“immediately deployed” to help FEMA with relief
efforts. I know a Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
employee who volunteered along with 30 others from CBP
in our city. These people are still here, awaiting
instructions.
Agents like myself have it in our job description that
we can be detailed or deployed at any time for
basically any reason. I would have thought they would
have immediately sent almost all ICE [Immigration
& Customs Enforcement] agents from the
northern part of the U.S. to the Gulf Coast to
supplement the police down there. Instead, the only
thing I’ve seen is a similar kind of request for
“volunteers,” specifically from ICE, but the
volunteers must have SAIC [Special Agent In Charge]
approval, and the SAICs have
been told that “ICE business” has priority.
I hate to say it because I was never in the military,
but DHS, ICE, and CBP need some strong, proven leaders
with military background who will whip people into
shape and hold them accountable, or force them out.
Instead, President Bush gave us people like Chertoff,
[Michael] Garcia, and Julie Myers – people with no real law
enforcement experience and who have never demonstrated
they are capable of administering huge bureaucracies
like DHS and ICE. It’s apparent to me now that Bush
never saw the ICE mission as critical to the security
of this nation. And he knew all along the Secretary
of DHS has no real teeth. These have been nothing
more than patronage jobs in his eyes. In the
meantime, Chertoff et al, aka “The Incompetents,” are
transforming the good men and women of ICE and of DHS
into a pathetic bunch of Milquetoasts who are
incapable of providing the most basic protections to
the people of this nation. This is a disgrace.
Tags: Anonymous DHS Special Agent, Brian Moskowitz, bureaucratic lawyer, Bush, Debbie Schlussel, department head, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, food, genuine Homeland Security chief, Gulf Coast, hack and unproven leader, head, Homeland Security Secretary, ICE, ICE mission, ICE Special Agent, Iraq, Julie L. Myers, Michael Chertoff, Michael Garcia, Michigan, New Orleans, Ohio, President, real law enforcement experience, SAIC, Secretary, Special Agent, United States, White House
Bigo Deb! My Jewish Jewel of America! Apparently Homeland Security is based solely on imprisoning Americans and not supporting us. Here is another story from the World Net Daily News:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46132
IN KATRINA’S WAKE
Clinton, Bush slashed spending on levees
For 10 years, preventive maintenance was cut
[Edited by Debbie for length and offensive comments toward Christians]
KOAJaps on September 4, 2005 at 7:32 pm