quillnews

Senators approve Bush crony for DHS 7-2

Okay, it's past midnight and the MSM failed in its duty to inform the public about the job the DC pols are doing in staffing up the nation's defenses.  Not a peep to be found about the perfunctory hearing Friday morning on the nomination of Julie Myers, 36, to become chief of ICE, the second largest law enforcement agency in the US and a critical suit in charge of homeland security, border and customs enforcement.  Here is the vote list from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs, which went 7-2 to approve Bush 43's young protege.  Am I missing something on this?  Is anybody watching who gets put in charge of homeland security?  Is the war on terror serious?   Just asking...  (QN, NRO)  BTW - who at DHS decided to second guess and bad mouth Mayor Bloomberg, NYPD Commish Kelly, and NYC officials who warned strap hangers about the AQ plans to bomb the subways?  (BBC, USAT) Will the new head of ICE be able to straighten out all this who's-in-charge-here stuff?  Say like Bush's other crony, Brownie, did with the New Orleans Mayor and Louisiana Governor during Katrina?  Stay tuned... (HT Malkin)

The Other Myers: does MSM care?

Quillnews is going to conduct a test Friday to see if any of the self-important DC media who are so concerned about the war on terror and homeland security show up to report on the other Bush 43 crony appointment of a lady named Myers (though with a different spelling). Sen. Collins, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs, is going to hold a hearing at 10am Friday at Senate Dirksen 342 on Bush 43's nomination of Julie Myers to a top DHS post in which the 36 year old former junior prosecutor and personal assistant to Bush 43 will be in charge of the second largest law enforcement bureaucracy in the federal government, supervising homeland security, customers, borders and other war on terror chores. This job is kind of important, like say the FEMA job Brownie had, particularly in the wake of the vulnerabilities revealed by Katrina.  Still Bush 43 believes his young protege is qualified to manage 20,000 customs, immigration, and law enforcement professionals, supervise a budget of $4 billion and be the senior government officer in charge of "identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities in the nation's border, economic, transportation and infrastructure security." Despite the candidate's obvious lack of qualifications for the task, she's a smart kid and the boss likes her, which tells you a lot about her boss.  Stay tuned...  (MM, QN, QN2)

What happens when Media-ville's leading man flubs his lines?

It will be a while before the collapse of government during Katrina is digested. Quillnews is already having second and third thoughts. Not about the problems that Katrina revealed, but whether DC is the best place to look for solutions. Just because Louisiana and New Orleans are run by idiots who can't find their ass with both hands, doesn't mean that metro areas like New York, Chicago, LA must give up authority to the feds when things go bad. Could any other governmental authority have done better than Mayor Guiliani in establishing command and control and coordinating unified communications in the wake of Sept 11?  I've already posted about the need to reform the federal role, beef up military response capacity and revise Posse Comitatus. A few other favorite gripes of Quillnews are:   

1.  Press -- I'm not going to join the critics on this one. Of course the first news reports were wrong! Of course there was distortion, emotionalism, sensationalism and journalistic incompetence. And the surprise is...? We are talking about news hounds here. By definition, they could have been way better. Hewitt has a money quote:

They failed to report on the basic issues surrounding who deploys the National Guard; they failed to report on why the Salvation Army and the Red Cross were forbidden by state officials to deliver supplies to the Superdome and the convention center. They failed to report what happened to the buses; they failed to establish a chronology…

The PBS round table on this was good. Let the press keep reporting on all the mistakes they made, accuse public officials of spreading rumors and point fingers where ever blame belongs -- including themselves! Let's make sure the Ds and Rs don't get a chance to avoid asking their guys questions about their own incompetence. (The Senate Ds pass of Louisiana's Gov. Blanco was an embarassing disgrace.) Let the press be free. I'm not going to blame the stand-up anchors in New Orleans for being outraged at the human suffering they witnessed. Somebody should be outraged! What was happening to the people in New Orleans after the flood was completely unacceptable! Sure the news nets did a sloppy job of field reporting. All the news room lay offs and downsizings of the past decade or two have revealed anemic journalistic capacity. That's not the reporters fault; that fault lies with the companies they work for and business models they are forced to use because of their costly technology. By next time, perhaps the bloggers application of new technologies and new business models will even it up a bit... (WSJ, CST, PL, PL2, WT, BM, BM2, IP, NRO, NOLA)

2.  Military -- Why has the US so short-changed its uniformed services since the Cold War? In 1945, we devoted 38.5% of GNP to defense, the equivalent of $4.76 trillion now. The current $400 billion defense budget is a twelfth of that and only 3.2% of GDP, as opposed to the average of 5.7% of GNP in the peacetime years between 1940 and 2000. The American people are engaged in a war of life and death against jihadist killers bent on our destruction. When will Congress and the President start organizing and funding our forces for victory?  How much longer can the people rely on the sacrifices and sufferings of a few patriots volunteering to serve?  Why haven't our political leaders asked the taxpayers to support these forces with the resources they need? (WSJ)

3.  Infrastructure -- The underfunded, under-engineered levee system in New Orleans tells a story about US physical vulnerabilities.  Government spending on infrastructure (as a percent of GNP) is now 2%, two thirds of the peak levels of the 1960’s, at 3%.  How much longer can this go on?  What about our bridges, tunnels, ports, dams, water systems?  The fact that US energy production and manufacturing is so concentrated on the storm-vulnerable Gulf of Mexico and coastal region is a huge strategic weakness for the US and the world economy. The US is willing to use force in the Persian Gulf to defend these same interests.  Why won't the US let drillers loose on US lands in North America, and redistribute energy manufacturing capacity to other regions?  Are Green, anti free-market politics so strong? Will Congress or the States act to reform these vulnerabilities? (LAT, TUK, WSJ, WSJ2, WSJ3)

4.  Leadership -- Nagin and Blanco are easy targets and will get the judgment of history they deserve. And no doubt the stink from their failures has rubbed off on Bush 43, who only now is finding his feet. But he's the boss and he's the star in Broadway's biggest show.  In today's Media-ville the moral and political authority of any president is derived from his skills as a political performance artist.  This requires that a president be the lead actor in the 24-7 show on Media-ville that tells the story of America -- right now.  It's part of the president's job that he make sure the audience knows and approves of his daily performance in Media-ville, that the audience knows what that he is doing and that's he's in command while having their best interests in mind. And on that level, Bush 43 blew it. He was on what his aides insisted on calling a vacation, tending to duties elsewhere, and not focused on the storm in the Gulf of Mexico.  He had delegated the government’s response during Media-ville's early Katrina shows to the new bureaucracy that turned out to be not very well run at best and incompetent at worst.  Moreover, the evidence of this dysfunction was being shown 24-7 on the cable nets as citizens were abandoned, neglected and allowed to fester for days. Katrina was Media-ville's latest Big Show.  Instead of seeing an Tony-winning performance from the show's lead actor, what the audience saw was a guy who looked like he wasn't ready to be an understudy in summer stock. Whatever his strengths in previous episodes in Media-ville, Bush 43's flub hurt.  The recovery of the people's trust is going to take focus and new credible performance in the media arts. There are signs Bush 43's paying attention. I, for one, wish him well; he's the leader of the Post Sept 11 War for another three years. Now is not time for DC to dump on the guy because he blew his lines for a few shows during a storm. (PL, WP, WSJ, LAT, RCP)

How to improve the US Posse?

The post-Katrina debate over "who's in charge here" during a national emergency -- local, state, federal, civilian, miliary -- is underway and some excellent thinking is being done by some smart people. The multi-level failures of  governmental response in meeting Katrina's challenge is obvious to the adults in DC, and a consensus has emerged the US must adopt more effective methods to deploy emergency assets. (QN, QN2) There's lots of consider, and USAT gave the governors a head start Monday with the headline: "Govs to Bush: Relief our job." (Once again, Mass Gov. Romney showed he's an R with a clue - he agreed with Bush 43 on the need to ramp up the federal role.) A good start at kicking around the issues involved was made at the Heritage Foundation Monday where a panel discussed: The Military's Role in Disasters: What's the Right Answer? Lots of ideas were aired. (View panel here) No suprise, the bias at Heritage was toward limiting federal and governmental reliance.  Heritage fellow James Jay Carafano wanted to make sure reforms don't make matters worse! However, something must be done; what we have now doesn't work! Among the more articulate on short and long term fixes was security planner Christine Wormuth, now doing a study of the National Guard at CSIS. (WSJ) Stay tuned...

A new Posse is coming…

Introducing the new chairman of the joint chiefs, Parade, the mega-million circulation Sunday newspaper magazine features a cover story interview with Marine Gen. Peter Pace.  What I like is the quote on the cover feature: “Our fellow citizens are right to expect our military will act during a disaster...”  In the story inside, Pace's quote continues, “…but to respect their civil rights at the same time.  We must now absorb those lessons from Katrina."   In light of recent statements by Bush 43, Sen. Warner and Rumsfeld, it looks like a consensus has emerged to revise Posse Comitatus of 1878.  Good. Quillnews has been pushing this idea since the early days of Katrina.  But the matter of revising the Pentagon’s role in domestic emergency response also calls into question the preparedness and funding of the First Responder ranks at the municipal and state levels, and the role of the National Guard.  It is already apparent heavy lifting will be required to reorient the use of the National Guard in post-Iraq and post-Katrina environments, and that new domestic First Responder training and staffing will be required for the DHS model to succeed. The US Coast Guard is an excellent model – tight, focused and professional.  How about we make the National Guard a true home guard – and not have their ranks be the cushion for the Regular Army and Reserve? The days of delegating key military support functions to the Guard for use during overseas deployments should be called to a halt!  Quillnews view: 1) Upstaff the Regular ranks & 2) Task the National Guard to be professional First Responders of the highest order on a par with the USCG.  (Parade, WT, WS, QN)

The US needs a new Posse

Being willing to stand in and take it, give it back and landing a few earns you some points in Quillnews' book.  Dressed in a sharp suit and starched shirt, Mike Brown, Allbaugh's crony, to his credit did that and more at Tom Davis' House Government Affairs Committee Tuesday. Brownie and FEMA will no doubt find their final proper judgment in the records. But for now, Brownie's candid appearance before Congress earns him the benefit of the argument today. On that score, I completely agree with his assessment of the political and governmental leadership in Louisiana: this is one sorry crew. (WP, WSJ, WP2)  It is our fate that Louisiana is home to vital energy infrastructure, and that our history and traditions have placed in that state's hands the fate of so much.  The perfomance of these local officials in Katrina prove this vulnerability is no longer tolerable. Prior to Katrina, Louisiana's somewhat colorful political habits gave everyone jokes and spectator sport mojo.  But after Katrina the political culture of Louisiana is no longer funny.  It is a national disgrace. (WSJ, RWN, MM) Brownie only called it dysfunctional.  In fact, it is corrupt, incompetent and dangerous. Will Louisiana grow up and reform?  I, for one, don't want to bet our nation's security on it.

We need a new Posse:  Bush 43 has the right idea -- change the Posse Comitatus Law to enable the federal government to delegate US Armed Forces to state duties during emergencies. (WT, WT2) The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the military from performing civilian law enforcement duties, and this law prevented a prompt federal take over of response in Louisiana and delayed help for  days, prolonging needless suffering and costing lives. SecDef Rumsfeld is investigating possible reforms to the act, which Pentagon officials consider archaic. (Editor's aside: Archaic?  You think?  The rule is a post-Civil War political deal between Rs & Ds because Southern states with race laws wanted to enforce their evil practices without the threat of a federal army marching through...again!) Today is a new day: Sen. John W. Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, senior senator from Virginia (!) said the president and defense secretary should be given "standby authorities" to respond to natural disasters. "I believe the time has come that we reflect on the Posse Comitatus Act," Warner said. 

Expect such authority to give small-government states right advocates the heebie jeebies. Tough. It is the 21st Century. We are are war with an jihadists who want to destroy our way of life with chemicals, germs and nukes and who love the idea that our forces are divided into 50 pieces and we are unable respond at home as one!  It's time for the US to get over the Civil War. US troops are our troops! And I don't want our nation's emergency preparedness and response in the hands of some governor I never voted for...

Crony appointment to DHS sinking fast

It looks like the Bush Administration has placed its last crony in the DHS/FEMA and that the post-Katrina environment is going to mean that the people who get the top jobs in the new cabinet department are actually qualified and have the professional standing, experience and political credibility to hold their jobs.  Senators Collins and Leiberman, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs showed the new terms of engagement by putting a hold on the appointment of Julie Myers, 36, an obviously underqualified, non-credible crony of Chertoff and Bush 43.  Count one small victory for the post-Katrina initiatives to enhance national security.  And credit Michelle Malkin and the blogs for calling out this incredible appointment and doing the job that the White House staff should have done long before Bush 43 and Secretary Chertoff trashed their credibility (even more) in their inept management of this critical new department. (MM, NRO)  And don't let the the DC press corp off the hook.  The fact the MSM never sounded more than a mew over Myers' appointment makes all those DC news hounds look like a bunch of, you know, pussies (cats that is).  (NYT, QN)

Are the Bushies serious?

Any reader of Quillnews knows of my support for the Bush 43 policy to take the fight to the enemy. The post-Sept 11 military actions led by the US were justified, despite all the problems and faulty intelligence, and necessary for national security.  On this count, I make no apology and have no second thoughts.  And because of the devotion and courage of volunteers, steady leadership of Bush 43, and wisdom of the American people this fight will continue.  But the stunning weaknesses in emergency preparedness and response exposed by Hurricane Katrina were an epiphany: how could the Bush Administration and all the other government enablers in the executive and legislation branches have allowed such a dysfunctional DHS/FEMA to be assembled, staffed, funded and approved?  How could the vital first responders under this new scheme be left so vulnerable and so completely underfunded, undertrained, underled? This is a life-and-death national security matter that is beyond partisanship, or public and economic policy disputes. Emergency preparedness and crisis response capacity in the age of terrorists and WMD is a national security matter. This is an essential function of government that must be taken as seriously as a heart attack. No fooling around. I hoped this message got through to Bush 43 in the incompetent multi-level government performance during Katrina, the exposure of the embarassing FEMA Brown/Allbaugh crony fiasco, the lack of training, funding and leadership in the ranks of the first responders, and also the obvious misfit of relying on political cronies and careful prosecutors and who want to get everything in writing to be emergency pro-active responders.  But no. Bush 43 is pushing ahead with another crony appointment that is simply beyond belief. 

Julie Myers, the 36-year-old Chertoff protoge, Bush personal assistant, and smarty neice of the USAF Gen. Richard Myers, retiring Joint Chiefs Chairman, has been named to become head of the supersensitive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at DHS!!!   ICE has a budget of $4 billion, 20,000 employees and is the second largest law inforcement agency in the US government. How could this be happening?  Myers, whatever her talents as a competent and dutiful junior staffer to big shots, is a completely inappropriate choice for an administration reeling under charges of incompetence and cronyism, and in the wake of the most obvious collapse of government performance in a generation. Myers' appointment is wrong and tells the enemies of freedom the US is run by fools. Her appointment is a competely unserious, supercilious act that is provocative and invites attack.  How will Bush 43 be able to justify this appointment if, God forbid, a terrorist or weapon succeeds in breaching US borders on her watch?  Will Bush 43 say Myers has done a heck of a job, too? As it stands today, Bush 43 wants to appoint an unqualified 36-year-old friend of court to supervise these DHS functions:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is one component that completes Border and Transportation Security (BTS), which is underneath the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The mission of the entire BTS is to secure the nation's air, land, and sea borders. As an organization that is part of BTS, ICE also strives to achieve a more specific mission. To prevent acts of terrorism by targeting the people, money, and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities in the nation’s border, economic, transportation and infrastructure security. To be the nation's preeminent law enforcement agency, dedicated to detecting vulnerabilities and preventing violations that threaten national security. Established to combat the criminal and national security threats emergent in a post 9/11 environment, ICE combines a new investigative approach with new resources to provide unparalleled investigation, interdiction and security services to the public and our law enforcement partners in the federal and local sectors.

Gaak!  "unparalled investigation," "new investigative approaches," "partners." This is D.C. consultant weasel talk and it is B.S.  Who writes this stuff?  Who knows what it means?  Saying a 36 year legal whiz is in charge of it all doesn't inspire confidence!  The country club set that Bush 43 keeps around better help their boss get on the cluetrain quick. Chief of Staff Andy Card?  How about you tell your boss this appointment is huge mistake, and wouldn't pass the smell test in any shape hall in Southie. An appointment like this undermines the trust that the federal government will need to reform after Katrina, rebuild the Gulf Coast, and elevate the performance of the nation's first responders. Can't anybody tell the truth inside the Bush Administration anymore?  Is W's second-term going to be like this for three years?  (HT Malkin, IP, WP) (Update: Malkin2)

Mayor Nagin makes the case for federal takeover

New Orleans Mayor Nagin is such a jerk.  His inept leadership and immature attitude prove why the US should have the option of a mandatory federal override during emergencies.  Nagin wants residents and businesses to move back to New Orleans now and ignore the feds’ warnings about the new hurricane Rita.  He even gets a smart mouth on him with Vice Adm. Thad Allen whose USCG saved 30,000 from peril and is the chief fed pumping up to $62 billion in the region.  “Maybe he’s the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans” Nagin whined about Allen's warnings, before being persuaded later Monday that the residents' return should be delayed after all. (HC)  Says Nagin of his confusing turn-around: “"The conditions have changed.  We have another hurricane approaching us." With Katrina, this incompetent on-again, off-again dude act by Nagin, the lowest level and least competent pol in the game, probably cost lives. Jerk.

Post Katrina is not about W, it about US

Lots of the chatter in Media-ville is on the stagecraft of Bush 43's Jackson Square Speech Thursday, (lighting, location, scriptwriting, comparisons to post Sept 11 etc), and the story telling dynamics that revolve about politicians. Quillnews thinks this can be fun, but its a side-show.  The meat is the substance of the government failure, the need for reform and the agenda for action. (Fact sheet) Give the President credit for isolating the issues properly:   

• Emergency planning will become a national security priority
• A challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces

At the National Cathedral Friday, Bush 43 cut to the heart of the US's continuing injustice:

Some of the greatest hardship fell upon citizens already facing lives of struggle -- the elderly, the vulnerable, and the poor. And this poverty has roots in generations of segregation and discrimination that closed many doors of opportunity. As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality.

This event hurt Bush 43 politically, and you can count on the DC chatter squad in Media-ville to keep the focus on who screwed up (Editor's aside: Excellent article by Knight Ridder on DHS Sec Chertoff), on the volume of money the feds will be spending to rebuild and make things right, and on how Bush's base motives are to restore his reputation blah blah blah. But this event was not about Bush or the failures of his administation during Hurricane Katrina and its early aftermath. It was the people of the Gulf Coast and their property that were hurt and the nation will do what is necessary to restore the region and the lives of its inhabitants. More importantly, the impact of Katrina will change the nation. In the age of the jihadists' war on civilization, the hurricane response revealed the vast weaknesses in our system of government.

Quillnews view: The nation will have to

1. Change the relationship between the federal and state governments during emergency response to ensure adequate command and control,
2. Revise when and how to deploy US armed forces for domestic duty, and
3. Upgrade the vast network of "first responders" so that they are the equal to any threat.

Are we ready for that?  (NYT: Dowd, Rich, Brooks. WP: Balz. WSJ Melloan, Henninger. NJ Crook. CST Steyn. WP Applebaum, Dionne. WS Barnes.  LAT, LAT2, NYT). Stay tuned...