By Debbie Schlussel
More evidence (as if we needed it) that the Department of Homeland Security is a big mess that has nothing to do with actual “homeland security.”
In 2002, DHS was ordered by Congress to tighten security at our nation’s ports. They were ordered to issue high-tech IDs to all port workers. Six years later, the program is finally being “implemented,” if you can call this implementation. Better to call it Screwed Up Beyond All Apparent Relief, or “How America Adopted Anachronistic Practices of the Former Soviet Paradise“:

A Homeland Security Department program to tighten port security by issuing high-tech identification cards to more than a million workers is riddled with problems as it’s getting underway, according to barge company owners, union chiefs and some members of Congress.

The program was ordered by Congress in 2002 amid fears that terrorists would try to sneak weapons and operatives into the country through its seaports. People such as truckers, dock workers and deck hands are required to submit to fingerprinting and background checks before they are issued a new ID allowing them access to the ships, cargo containers, docks and equipment used to move millions of tons of cargo each year.
Workers trying to sign up for the cards face jammed phone lines, crowded enrollment centers, redundant background checks and more as they try to navigate the program, critics say.
Maurine Fanguy, the chief of the identification program, says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) vastly underestimated the number of workers who would need cards.

Hmmm . . . TSA “understimated” something. Shocker.

This month, the Homeland Security Department announced an extension of the Sept. 25, 2008, compliance date to April 15, 2009 — the latest in a series of delays.

Heckuva Job, Chertoff.

“This has been a real nightmare,” said Steve Golding of Golding Barge Line in Vicksburg, Miss.
He says only five of his 75 employees, most of whom applied months ago, have gotten a card back.
The slow pace is widespread: At the Port of New York/New Jersey, 13,000 of 125,000 workers have a card.

Six years to implement this program, and they’re only just starting it now. Six years to implement this program and it’s slower than Soviet-style bureaucracy.
And you expect this same incompetent bureaucracy–run by an incompetent lawyer–to catch terrorists? Think again.
Almost seven years after 9/11, our ports are still not safe. And guess who was President for all seven of ’em . . . .
Too busy pressuring Israel and sending Condi Clueless to hang with Assad. Glad he’s got his priorities straight. Even gladder that it’s T-minus-7.5-months.
Heckuva Job, Bushie.