Friday, September 07, 2007

Chertoff Strikes Again

(Sorry again for that truly disturbing pic.)

Another glowing report on DHS here, from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office…

In a 320-page report, the GAO identified 171 performance expectations and found the department achieved fewer than half since it formed four years ago. Experts, including auditors, have said it would take a department this large five years to seven years to come together.

Auditors also noted that the Defense Department, created after World War II, still faces serious management challenges. “I'm confident DHS can do better faster,” Walker said.
They’d better; somehow I don’t think al Qaeda is as concerned with trying to blow up office buildings or military hardware as they are with actual people

Auditors found DHS has not made adequate progress in these areas:

  • Identifying the spots where people illegally cross the border into the country.


  • Removing criminal aliens and establishing a strategy to prevent human smuggling.


  • Setting standards and procedures for securing the outer perimeter of airports.


  • Issuing standards for securing non-aviation transportation.


  • Establishing a single, all-hazards plan to respond to disasters.


  • Coordinating research and development of countermeasures for chemical, biological, nuclear and other terrorist threats.
  • Yep, I would say that these are some pretty big gaps at the moment (I’m more concerned about the last three than the first three, though).

    The bad news is that I don’t think this will be resolved anytime soon; in fairness, this is a tall order, especially for Mike (“City of Louisiana”) Chertoff.

    The good news is that, at least this time, Chertoff didn’t give us a status report on his intestinal tract.

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