Prospective DHS Secretary Thad Allen

SamAca10

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Prospective homeland security secretary Thad Allen testified Sept. 11 before a receptive Senate committee to which the former Coast Guard commandant would return for a confirmation hearing if he's nominated.

Speculation about the next secretary has included Allen as a strong possibility; he joined Booz Allen Hamilton as an executive vice president a year after stepping down from a 4 year term as head of the Coast Guard, from 2006 to 2010. Longstanding Obama administration secretary Janet Napolitano left DHS Sept. 6 to become president of the University of California system. In the interim, National Protection and Programs Directorate head Rand Beers is the acting secretary.

In a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on the general state of DHS, Allen said a high priority should be information sharing between components, calling it "the precursor to unity of effort and more integrated operations." The department's creation in 2002 brought together 22 agencies; achieving departmentwide coherence between them has been notoriously difficult. Allen also lamented that a fully functioning National Operations Center that would integrate all components' response to a large emergency has yet to be built.

On border security, Allen cautioned that U.S. international borders are complex, and securing them "can't be reduced to over simplistic fixes, like a fence or more Border Patrol agents."

What's needed, he said, is an approach to security that allocates resources based on risk; determining that risk can be done from data analysis that for example uses remote sensor data to identify areas near Mexico where long-term patterns show little human movement. "Along the southwest border, not every part of the border is the same," he said.

The concept of resilience should be expanded "beyond natural disasters and what FEMA does," Allen also said, adding that he is in favor of regionally based risk assessments of the most likely and consequential natural or man-made disasters.

Answering a question about overlapping congressional oversight of DHS--there are 108 committees and subcommittees with at least some departmental jurisdiction--Allen said the fact of many committees hinders an approach to flood risk that requires influencing local behaviors through changed building codes, land use and zoning. "You can't do that if you have four or five committees asserting jurisdiction," he said.

Management of domestic incidents--controlled by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (.pdf)--also needs change, Allen said, stating that the United States lacks a coherent document for managing large emergencies that would require the involvement of many departments. HSPD 5 designates the homeland security secretary as the principal federal official for domestic incidents management, but "frankly, when we have these large complex events, it's very hard to suborn one department to another," he said. Disasters are likely to get more complex, Allen said, envisioning the possibility of a cyber attack triggering a kinetic effect.



Read more: Prospective homeland security secretary Thad Allen outlines priorities in Senate hearing - FierceHomelandSecurity http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.c...ines-priorities-sena/2013-09-11#ixzz2hJvZtgqT
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Read more: Prospective homeland security secretary Thad Allen outlines priorities in Senate hearing - FierceHomelandSecurity http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.c...ines-priorities-sena/2013-09-11#ixzz2hJvPA3yB
Subscribe at FierceHomelandSecurity

Hopefully this happens, it'd be the best thing to happen for DHS and in particular the USCG
 
Not much more could be wrong with DHS, so maybe Adm. Allen can bring some stability to the department, and take steps to end infighting (hopefully by not trying to force "DHS" down the component's throats).

I was at CGHQ for part of Adm. Allen's commandantship (I just made that up... commandance.... commandancy.....) and then finished out with Adm. Papp.

The Commandant's office used to be on the second floor of HQ (CGHQ is moving from Buzzard Point in DC to St. Elizabeths (St. Es)). I was on the floor with a coworker of mine, and I had just said something.... not inappropriate, but I guess, not a thing you want the top person in your organization associating with you....

and as I finished saying it, Adm. Allen comes walking around the corner, and absolutely flustered, I tried to greet him with maybe five different ranks... the last of which was "admiral". And my co-worker, who had just separated from the CG as an officer to become a GS would not allow me to live it down.

I think Adm. Allen has a healthy degree of frustration with the way DHS has been run. Maybe he can fix it. There's a lot to fix.
 
I think it was a political job to cobble DHS together. I'm thinking the constituent agencies worked pretty well together as needed before being merged, and while coordination, cooperation may have been enhanced some, the value of trying to mashing them into a new 'step-child' agency is marginal at best and probably offset by the effort given to such weighty matters as establishing a new cabinet post and staff (and assistants and deputies and 1st assistant deputies) and selecting a flag design and official seal (not to mention the turmoil over color selection).
Perhaps the most dignified thing one could do is for everyone to pick up their toys and go back home.
 
Well it didn't turn out to be Admiral Allen, but a former Air Force/Pentagon lawyer named Jeh Johnson.
 
Yeah, that's what I want in charge of DHS! Another attorney!!!!
I've met Jeh Johnson on several occasions and, although I'm not generally a Barack Obama supporter, I think Obama made a great choice. Yes, he's a lawyer - but he has a great understanding of national defense. I think DHS is in much better hands now.
 
I've met Jeh Johnson on several occasions and, although I'm not generally a Barack Obama supporter, I think Obama made a great choice. Yes, he's a lawyer - but he has a great understanding of national defense. I think DHS is in much better hands now.

Well, for the time being, I'll take your word for it. It will be interesting to see if ICE gets handled in a less political manner.
 
I've met Jeh Johnson on several occasions and, although I'm not generally a Barack Obama supporter, I think Obama made a great choice. Yes, he's a lawyer - but he has a great understanding of national defense. I think DHS is in much better hands now.

Unfortunately, I can think of very few prior DOD folks who have a clue about homeland security. Pathetic.
 
Johnson needs to pay attention to Coast Guard missions.
He needs to support and insure goals are accomplished through equipment acquisition.
I don't know if he has the desire to gain that insight quickly.

What is pathetic is the TSA. Needs to revamp this.
In the end I am concerned that he will be Obama's pawn to
implement whatever sad immigration policies the current POTUS wants to adapt.
 
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