Homeland Security: Are We Doing All We Can To Secure It?

GAO 09/2004 Report

Last September the GAO released this report detailing a plan for our Homeland Security to tighten up our ports. The report also covered its investigation post 9/11 of our security at our nation’s largest ports. That being said, what is being reported by other groups about Port Security should alarm us as it relates to our illegal immigration problems, as well as terrorism threats.

Asa Hutchinson

Asa Hutchinson, the soon to be departing, Undersecretary of Homeland Security was on CSPAN’s Washington Journal on February 22nd to discuss how Homeland Security has faired under his watch. He even stated that “I’ve accomplished everything I’ve set out to do within Border Security.” (Please pick up your jaw off the floor) And he further goes on to boast about his 8 consecutive years of public service. I will say that he does get alot of phone calls from everyone who views our homeland security issue as I do: A Crisis. But in “Bush Administration-ese” he deflects a serious stance on wanting to go after illegal immigration. He just simply agrees with the caller and states “We have to do something about this crisis”. I beg to wonder what the hell you have been doing.

AAPA

The American Association of Port Authority has presented it’s ” United Front “ against crime and terrorism in releasing to the public all of it’s documentation on security practices, policies, and current legislation. While I think the website is full of information that would take most people hours to sift through, I have to wonder if this is more smoke screen than meaningful action. Take for instance the Baltimore Security Incident that the Coast Guard uncovered showing hired security personnel sleeping on the job. While this isn’t the Coast Guard lacking in its performance, this is certainly the fault of the Port Authority who hired this outfit to secure this facility.

US-VISIT

This was a government initiative designed to keep terrorists from entering the country. The GAO discovered that it could waste money and miss deadlines because officials have not adequately managed it. The WaPo reported on it here. And the GAO investigation of the US-VISIT Initiative is here.

What the GAO found:

Significant numbers of foreign visitors overstay their authorized periods of admission. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the resident overstay population at 2.3 million as of January 2000. Because the starting point for this estimate is the 2000 census, it does not cover short-term overstays who have not established residence here. It also omits an unknown number of potential long-term overstays from Mexico and Canada.

This is obviously something we already know, but what’s alarming here most of all is the problem hasn’t been fixed. The NYT’s has it’s own report stating that alot of the funding that should have gone to secure larger, more important, and higher targets for terrorists in fact went to smaller more obscure ports:

Major ports like New York, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland received large allocations. But smaller grants went to ports in places like St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Ludington, Mich., and six locations in Arkansas, none of which appeared to meet the grant eligibility requirements, the audit said. The department, as a result, “had no assurance that the program is protecting the nation’s most critical and vulnerable port infrastructure and assets,” the audit said.

The only thing I know in Martha’s Vineyard that needs protecting is Martha Stewart’s wine collection and her prized Alaskan Huskies.

Port Authority Fights Congress To Block Reforms

Caltrade Report has an article that uncovered the Virginia Port Authority lobbying congress to block the Bush Administration’s proposal to require ports to compete for security grants with other transit systems.

As far as I’m concerned over this issue the Virginia Port Authority should be more concerned about getting the task done than bickering about competitive contracts. That should be a given considering that these Port Authorities are spending our tax money to beef up their security needs. This is simply obstruction at its finest and shouldn’t be widdled down to excuses about funding unless they aren’t getting what they need financially to do the job. Clearly that’s not what this issue was about.

DHS

On the Voice of America website there is a brief blurb about the DHS having its own ideas about the mismanagement of funds, but I have to question their motivations for this since all of these problems fall under their purview.

At the end of the day it’s very hard to get a bureaucracy to pull itself together and get this job done. Especially a new one, because now they get to use all the excuses in the playbook like “We’re new to this so we’re just learning to walk here.” It’s alarming to note that since this organization is responsible for the security of its citizens I think it cares more about the safety of its government employees more than they do us. Which is why I am not surprised when in Arizona, citizens have taken matters into their own hands to form a “Minuteman” militia of sorts. While any citizen going off half cocked will be severely punished, they have their hands tied when it comes to procedures to confront and arrest illegals breaking into our country.

But Mexico and the Ports in our country aren’t only our problems because we have a country to our north that is just as sloppy at immigration practices, standards, and policies as Mexico, and us. In an article I wrote here, Canada has even let known sleeper cell terrorists free on $50,000 bail while they await trial. I guess they are just more concerned with getting stoned than their own Homeland Security.

All of which should make us very concerned for our own personal safety. If your own Government can’t do its job, you have no one left to blame but yourself should you need protection. This is why conservatives have fought to keep our 2nd Amendment rights.

Tagged as: politics, terrorism