GAO Criticizes Homeland Security's Efforts to Fulfill Its Mission

By Spencer S. Hsu

Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 6, 2007; Page A10

Hobbled by inadequate funding, unclear priorities, continuing reorganizations and the absence of an overarching strategy, the Department of Homeland Security is failing to achieve its mission of preventing and responding to terrorist attacks or natural disasters, according to a comprehensive report by the Government Accountability Office.

The highly critical report disputes recent upbeat assessments by the Bush administration by concluding that the DHS has failed to make even moderate progress toward eight of 14 internal government benchmarks more than four years after its creation.

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Mostly DHS is hobbled by Michael Chertoff. Almost $42 billion isn't sufficient budget for the guy who shuffles Katrina victims from hotels (and cruise ships) to trailers, then finds out the trailers he bought are toxic, then proposes to move all those American refugees back into hotels. The cruise ships are busy cruising.

Maybe he ought to give Iraqi premier Maliki a call and see what to do about (and how to obfuscate) those missed benchmarks everyone keeps talking about.

Somehow Alberto Gonzales lost his job and this bozo Chertoff gets by on a free pass. Homeland Security was created in fear and ignorance, has done nothing but screw up since its inception and continues to swallow money without effect. It doesn't need to be reorganized.

It needs to be abolished.

* For more in-depth articles by Jim on Homeland Security, check out Opinion-Columns.com