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DHS under attack for vacancies, high number of politicos
By WDavidStephenson | July 9, 2007
Today’s WaPo has a story by Spencer Hsu detailing some widely-differing statistics on the extent of vacancies in senior management and in number of political appointments filling those posts.
The story was provoked by a report that will be released today by Rep. Benny Thompson (D-Miss)’s House Homeland Security Committee. It reports that DHS had 138 vacancies among the top 575 posts on May 1st, with the largest numbers of vacancies in policy, legal and intelligence, along with FEMA, the Coast Guard, and immigration. DHS’s rejoinder was that the number of open slots was inflated by creation of a variety of new positions this spring, and that vacancies before had only totaled 12%.
No matter what the exact numbers in both categories, it adds up a conclusion similar top the headline: “Job vacancies at DHS said to hinder US preparedness,” especially in vital agencies such as FEMA.
Critics may be found on both sides of the aisle:
- Thompson told Hsu, “that vacancies have weakened morale and reflect an over-reliance on contractors. He also called the report a warning ‘that we can expect more vacancies to occur than what we have been accustomed to” at the close of the administration, when many top personnel will leave their posts.’”
- Meanwhile, from Rep. Thomas Davis (R-VA): “while walking in his district yesterday, Davis said, he met constituents employed at an immigration agency who described lower morale because of the vacancies.”
DHS spokesman Russ Knocke says the secretariat is keeping an eye on the Jan. 20, 2009 transition (aren’t we all?), trying to build up send and third-level non-partisan managers who will remain in place.
“Nevertheless,” according to Hsu, “congressional auditors, management consultants and academic experts on government have warned that several trends are undercutting efforts to improve DHS management. The department faces high turnover because top officials are in demand in a private sector willing to pay lucrative salaries. It is heavily dependent on contractors, yet its staff to manage them is overstretched. Partisan political combat over homeland security issues has also made jobs less attractive.
Homeland Security employees reported the lowest job satisfaction among 36 federal agencies in a January survey by the OPM. “
The story contains a lot more detail on the issue, but the conclusion is plain: DHS’ overburdened senior management would be well advised to spend part of each day culling those resumes and filling slots that can ease their responsibilities.
Technorati tags:
homeland security DHS FEMA Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff War on Terror government politics disaster planning
Topics: policy and politics | |
