Security officials look ahead to '09

The transition to a new president could present vulnerabilities for terrorists to exploit.

from the July 20, 2007 edition

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For example, if a top manager is a presidential appointee who is expected to leave, as in the case of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), DHS officials have already the identified which top career position would then be tapped for an official to be in charge during the transition. "We know who is the No. 2, what are their duties. [It's] the same for No. 3, No. 4, and even in some cases further down the ladder," Mr. Knocke says.

Department officials are also now concentrating on ensuring that they have the right people to fill those Nos. 2 and 3 slots. They'd like experienced, career civil-service personnel in place at each agency before the transition.

That is proving to be a challenge. DHS has succeeded in putting in place 14 top career officials, which accounts for almost half of the 30 agencies. But the department, which has a total of 575 senior leadership positions, currently has 135 total top vacancies. According to Knocke, 70 percent of them are in the hiring process, simply waiting for a security clearance. Still, critics note that uncertainty created by such a large number of unfilled slots could add to the nation's vulnerability.

"That presents a particular problem for us right now, and it will in January 2009 because there will be nobody there to talk to when the transition takes place," says Professor Greenberger.

In some agencies, such as the Coast Guard, which have well established professional employees and career paths, setting up transition plans has gone fairly smoothly. In others, like FEMA, which has been highly politicized and lost most of its career leadership in the past eight years, it's more of a challenge, say experts. And that points to a larger set of strategic issues – whether the US needs to build a homeland-security discipline similar to that of the Foreign Service or the military with its War College.

"It begs the question of how do we build out a homeland-security career service?" says Frank Cilluffo, director of George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute. "We need to start investing in people education ... and leadership to build a stronger discipline."

But Knocke of DHS defends the department's work and points to FEMA as the perfect example of how the department is attempting to prepare for the transition and at the same time improve cooperation. For example, Secretary Chertoff has recently appointed the Coast Guard's retired Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson to be the No. 2 person at FEMA.

"That's a tremendous value add, not only for FEMA, because he understands the Coast Guard culture ... and brings that expertise to FEMA," says Knocke. "But it's also a benefit for the Coast Guard because they have one of their own who's working in the chief operating officer slot in FEMA."

But even Knocke admits that DHS still has a long way to go to be prepared for a revived Al Qaeda threat. "There are a number of things that are well under way, but I will be the first to tell you that we have a distance to go," he says.

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