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Does this (reform) make me look fat?

The House Intelligence Committee voted Thursday to withhold funding from the nation’s intelligence director over concerns that his office, which was created to streamline operations in the nation’s spy community, is instead becoming bloated and bureaucratic. […]

The bill would require the nation’s intelligence director, John D. Negroponte, to present a detailed rationale for any additional increases to his staff or risk losing a portion of his budget. The measure was endorsed by Republicans and Democrats.

“We’re concerned about some of the steps that are going on” at Negroponte’s office, said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Hoekstra said Negroponte needed to demonstrate that any further expansion would improve coordination among intelligence agencies, and would not amount to “putting in more lawyers and slowing down the process.”

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, cited similar concerns.

“We don’t want more billets, more bureaucracy, more buildings,” Harman said. “We want more leadership.”

Amen sister!

Not thinking things through is a bitch, isn’t it? So is language that is too ambiguous; which is how so many programs gain so much bloat so fast. Normally when you put on this kind of weight so fast it has adverse health effects, but you’d be hard pressed to find an IC program that has come to an untimely end no matter how fat it got. As I mentioned earlier, they could almost start their own agency at the rate their growing. Oh and don’t forget they’re encroaching on real estate that was supposed to go to an agency that has long been desperate for space.

The sad thing is that this Charlie Foxtrot isn’t in any real danger of being rectified, which means the only real course of action is waiting for the next debacle and dreaming of a happy place where the will to act is stronger than the desire to retain a seat.

Angry at Face? Remove Nose.

The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday rejected a proposal to withhold money from the National Security Agency if the White House did not reveal information about the cost of the agency’s warrantless surveillance program.

In a session closed to reporters, only Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., who heads a subcommittee that oversees the NSA, voted with the Democrats to support the measure to hold back one-fifth of the agency’s budget.

This is funny: The arm of government charged with oversight of the IC is torqued because they can’t get an agency they’re responsible for watching to provide them with budget information they’re supposed to approve. Their response? Attempt to hamstring the agency by withholding 1/5^th of the agency’s budget.

Playing games with money for bridges to nowhere is one thing, but you’re talking about money that makes a PowerBall lottery win look like pocket change. As a reminder, this isn’t money that is then used to pay for bourbon and lap dances, but is used in defense of the nation.

Captain Ed lays it all out better here. I’ll be in the corner pounding my head against a wall if you need me.

Back to School

When FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III went before a House subcommittee Tuesday to explain the Bureau’s budget request, one of the success stories he gave involved Mercyhurst College.

Two FBI employees are enrolled in their first year of Mercyhurst’s two-year graduate program in applied intelligence. The Bureau may send another three in September, according to Robert Heibel, executive director of the Mercyhurst Institute of Intelligence Studies.

“This is a credit to the Mercyhurst Intelligence Studies Program and to the college,” said Mercyhurst College President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble. “It shows that this program has gained respect in the highest circles of the intelligence analysis world. It also reflects on the quality of the graduate programs at the college.”

I don’t know that I would call FBI intel as being in the “highest circles” but we get the point.

Frankly, we need more programs like this and more gov-edu cooperation. It beats the hell out of the current system, which is basically akin to throwing toddlers into a pool and hoping they make it to the side.

This is money well spent and the IC could stand a lot more of it. 2-3 slots per year per civilian and military institution across 15 agencies is a pittance. The idea is to build an elite cadre, but it ends up making the vast majority mediocre. Analysis is a cerebral affair, and in other domains where you’re expected to use your mind they have this thing called a “sabbatical.” A lot of folks would think twice about bailing out if they knew they’d get a year off every five to reboot and retool.

Rudderless Ship

Former CIA spy hunter Paul Redmond, who helped catch notorious Moscow mole Aldrich Ames, has withdrawn from consideration to become the Bush administration’s top counterspy, U.S. intelligence officials say.

Mr. Redmond had been selected to be national counterintelligence executive, but backed out after the FBI held up his formal appointment by conducting a lengthy background investigation, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Redmond could not be reached for comment. In addition to uncovering Ames in 1993, Mr. Redmond conducted the damage assessment into the case of FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen, who spied for Moscow for 16 years before his 2001 arrest.

A sense of entitlement or indignation or a closeted skeleton? I don’t even want to think about it. Lots of good work to be done here – sanity to discussions like DP World, Lenovo, etc. - if they would be allowed to do their jobs. Sadly it seems like that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

D.Y. – I can mail you a sextant if you need it.

Yellow: The New Blue

A bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to strip the hue from the government’s color-coded terrorist alert system is gaining momentum.

A package of legislation moving through the House eliminates the Department of Homeland Security’s use of colors to change the threat level, and calls for more specific threat information to be shared with the private sector and local governments.

“The color code doesn’t provide any information to people, what it does is foster a climate of anxiety without giving useful information to people,”said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, who worked with Rep. Rob Simmons, Connecticut Republican, on the legislation.

Having helped manage a particular color-coded alert system in the past, I am torn.

On the one hand, color-coded or alpha-numeric alert systems are an easy way to let people know – mostly people who don’t work this stuff full time – what the relative level of concern is for a given problem. Nothing gets attention like a flashing red light, because it is often the only way you can get people to read the more informative narrative that actually communicates meaningful information.

On the other hand the problem with any simplified alert system is that there is usually no way to adjust for relative levels of pain. That we’ve been at “Yellow” for so long diminishes the value of the system, because Yellow is now the new Blue.

We managed to fix this in a different domain, so I know it is possible . . . My rates are very reasonable.

Here Comes the Judge

True this:

In Posner’s analysis, the director of national intelligence (DNI), created by Congress to be the president’s top intelligence adviser, was given too much to do. DNI John D. Negroponte oversees the CIA and 15 other intelligence agencies, including those at the Pentagon. Negroponte’s staff, which has grown to about 1,000, “has become a new bureaucracy layered on top of the intelligence community,” Posner said.

1,000. 1,000. To give you some perspective, I’ve worked in agencies where 1,000 was a large percentage of the workforce.

Read it all, then weep.

DHS: Bleeding Out

The Homeland Security Department is losing top managers and rank-and-file employees in a brain drain that could affect morale and the nation’s safety, according to members of Congress and labor experts.

Homeland Security is “hemorrhaging on the front lines and higher up,” says New York University professor Paul Light, an expert on the federal workforce. The turnover comes amid renewed threats of terrorism and as the department readies itself for another hurricane season.

If you live in Florida or the Gulf Coast, take comfort in knowing that . . .

FEMA typically has 2,500 full-time employees. When Katrina hit, it was down 500. Some of those positions have been filled, but the agency is still struggling to get back to full strength.

For starters, watch for a lot more contractors to fill the void. This is not necessarily a bad thing if they can get things under control so that FTEs will have an easier time of it. Odds are however that more contractors and subs are going to add complexity, making things somewhat worse (if you think the discrete elements of DHS have competing interests you should see what it is like when rival firms staff the same shop).

Extended discontent and low staffing levels for another year are going to be the straws that break the back of DHS: at least as it is configured today. When the government can’t staff an element that does this sort of work with people who’ll have jobs for life, you know they’re in the land of suck. I would expect a significant re-tooling within the next two years if there is not major progress or if there is another readiness/response debacle. Call it “retrograde” and not “retreat” if it’ll make it more palatable.

Rocky Mountain High

“. . . Colorado . . .”

The idea that a whole lot of people all checking each other can converge on acceptably accurate results, and do it faster than a few experts, is relatively new. But once people have seen it work, they’re eager to try it. During the period leading up to the confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice, bloggers organized a massive group-read of his papers. More recently, volunteers read and analyzed documents concerning the interrogation of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

This is what happens . . .

. . . when the “pros” can’t be bothered to do the job properly:

The top US general this week suggested that the Pentagon had not adequately vetted documents that allege Russia passed intelligence about US troop movements to Saddam Hussein early on during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

On Tuesday – the same day that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, asked Russia to investigate the claims – General Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs, suggested that the US had unresolved questions about the claims contained in Iraqi documents captured after the invasion.

Modern Chinese Secret (gathering)

A U.S. State Department purchase of more than 15,000 computers made by Lenovo Group of China is starting to draw criticism, in the latest sign of American unease about the role of foreign companies in the domestic economy.

I’m sorry; last year wasn’t this called “IBM”?

I know somewhere in the DC area a certain chief scientist in a certain agency is jumping for joy (Hey bud, how’s tricks?). To be sure the security issues involved here are not trivial, but find me the 100% made-in-the-USA from chips-to-case computer manufacturer. That’s what I thought.

State can’t keep its own conference rooms secure and we’re flying off the hook over complex and convoluted plots to compromise the supply chain. Valid? Yes. Meaningful? No. Does anyone think this deal would slide under the radar in light of DP World? Do you think that the Mandarins wouldn’t have thought of this (if the answer is ‘yes’ you’re not paying attention to the China problem)?

Simple is best. Busting the supply chain is hard; pursuing The Bear and the Dragon option is a lot easier. It isn’t like they don’t have practice.

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