Saturday, June 09, 2007

Why political appointees are bad for government

And bad for us: (my bold)

On Monday Keith Olberman interviewed Michael Boyd an Aviation Security Consultant regarding the JFK terror plot. Boyd characterized the plot as "just nuts" but he focused primarily on the point of political appointees running national security agencies and the effects of that now. Here are some of his comments beginning with the effect on the economy if the fuel supply to 5 or 6 airports were to be disrupted.....

They didn‘t even focus on that. They focused as if somehow or other, this would be one giant incendiary event. And what that says is, very clearly, these are not real security people. I mean, the terrorists they caught, supposedly, were not black belts in terrorism. And these guys aren‘t black belts in counterterrorism either.

Then...

Well, the problem is, our security—Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration is not run by security professionals. It‘s run by political appointees. And political appointees look to cover themselves and to look good rather than to do the job. And that‘s why we‘re no safer than we were on 9/11, because we have the same problems we‘ve always had.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Boyd is always good for a scare quote, but he doesn't always know what he's talking about. First of all, he might call himself a security consultant, but he's not an intel professional and intel is what uncovered the JFK plot. Just in the news this weekend is word that the cell planning this plot was larger and more arrests might be forthcoming. I for one am glad anyone even in the early stages of planning to kill Americans is caught and put behind bars. Their plot might have been "nuts" as Mr. Boyd says, but their intention was not - it was to kill.

Secondly, the head of the Transportation Security Administration is a political appointee, but the people who actually run the security operations, technology development and deployment office, legal department, intermodal security and key program offices are NOT political appointees - and many have long and distinguised careers in security and transportation, not just government. They run the day to day operations, which is key.

ellroon said...

"the people who actually run the security operations, technology development and deployment office, legal department, intermodal security and key program offices are NOT political appointees - and many have long and distinguised careers in security and transportation, not just government. They run the day to day operations, which is key." Exactly. Thank god they are there and doing their jobs!

The danger is, though, that the professionals are hampered by the politics of the head of the TSA. Take a look at the politicizing of the judiciary and realize the Bush administration gave a huge amount of energy and thought to such machinations. Here is another partisan shift to something which should be above politics: our safety.