A great Fred Kaplan piece on the new homeland security chief nominee, Bernard Kerik has been published at Slate.
“Kerik has little background in management and no experience in dealing with Washington or with any government entity larger, or less simpatico, than Rudy Giuliani’s City Hall. Despite his résumé, he comes to this job not as a professional expert but as a political operator. He owes his career to Giuliani, who just purchased Ernst & Young’s financial-services division, which may develop some monetary interest in companies dealing with homeland security. He campaigned vigorously for President Bush in the 2004 election, an activity that entailed bashing Sen. John Kerry as “clueless” on terrorism and getting a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.
In short, the senators at Kerik’s confirmation hearings should ask him why they should expect the Department of Homeland Security under his command to be any more credible—to be perceived as any less of a White House shill—than it was under Thomas Ridge.”
And as Thoughtful Points has previously mentioned, the department is also deeply under funded and understaffed. It has no clout in Washington. Matthew Brzezinski’s piece explains why.
