PRELUDE TO DISASTER : 5 Pages (WAPO) Re: Dept of Homeland Security

[kpete]

(Kpete: Snippets from 5 pages of disaster at the Department of Homeland Security)

PRELUDE TO DISASTER : The Making of DHS
Department's Mission Was Undermined From Start

By Susan B. Glasser and Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 22, 2005; Page A01


Nearly three years after it was created in the largest government reorganization since the Department of Defense, DHS does have a story, but so far it is one of haphazard design, bureaucratic warfare and unfulfilled promises. The department's first significant test -- its response to Hurricane Katrina in August -- exposed a troubled organization where preparedness was more slogan than mission.



When the president convened the Cabinet to reveal his plan, Ridge recalled with a wry smile, "everybody said, 'Good idea, Mr. President.' " But few of them really thought so.


"We watched it and thought: 'What the hell are we doing here?' " recalled John Rollins, who became chief of staff for the new DHS intelligence section. "The White House did not support us," said one of Ridge's top advisers. "That occurred repeatedly. It was if the White House created us and then set out to marginalize us."




"The most common term used to describe DHS was 'frustration,' " said Harris N. Miller, who headed industry's Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security. "Most of the world didn't see it until Katrina. We saw it all the time."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122102327.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. I think the comment from Ridge is especially telling.

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. Better late and understated than never, I suppose. K & R n/t

[triguy46]

3. That is balanced by the fact they do a 'heckuva good job' n/t

[atommom]

4. It's a day late and a dollar short, but at least the press has

opened up one eye.... halfway.

[Supersedeas]

5. a little frustration for the 'small' government advocates?

[myrna minx]

6. Who'd think that people who loathe government i.e.

the Grover Nordquist types, wouldn't know how to um, actually, run a huge cabinet level department? :crazy:

[mia]

7. How many federal agencies does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None. There is no light bulb.

[glitch]

10. Lol - that sounds like an old soviet joke. nt

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Well, first off when they can't get known, obvious facts right

like the first line...

biggest government reorganization since DOD....


BULLSHIT....


biggest since DOT in 1967


when I read obvous dumb fact checking like that, I can't go on

[yknot]

9. I'll probably garner scorn for this but

I've always had this theory that the reason so many aspects of "homeland security" are blatantly ignored or underfunded by BushCo, is because they know it's unnecessary. Bush's war on terror is like OJ's efforts to find Nicole's killer. These guys know there won't be another 911 until they're ready to make one (again), so why throw away the money?

[glitch]

11. No scorn from me. Welcome to DU! nt

[renate]

12. I read the fifth page with my jaw dropped

This sounds like a high school student government, with some of the people mad at each other because they have crushes on the same girl, other people mad because one gave the other one a wedgie in eighth grade, the president of the student council letting his lofty position go to his head....

They really do sound like a bunch of immature kids. Maybe all U.S. administrations have been like this, but I actually kind of doubt it, or America would have become a third-rate power long ago.

[Pachamama]

13. OMG! DHS had hired Landor Assoc? I know them well...know the founders and

have done some projects with them...they are brilliant, but branding a Homeland Security Dept? Sheesh, I thought even they knew their limits....

The place, like the rest of the Bush Administration is a disaster. No amount of branding and marketing and PR fluff is going to change that....