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Posts Tagged ‘Distractions’

Obama Vetting Disaster Continues: 2nd TSA Nominee Withdraws

Friday, March 26th, 2010

President Obama needs to make some more calls to find a third nominee for TSA head as his first two nominees have now withdrawn, meaning America will continue on without a TSA Chief

When President Barack Obama first came into office and forwarded his slate of Cabinet picks, many ran into trouble and some withdrew over issues that arose in their backgrounds. At the time, many observers wondered why the President and his team had not done a more thorough job of vetting potential Obama Administration officials so as to avoid such problems. In month 14 of the Obama Administration, the vetting issue has arisen once again as the Obama’s second nominee for the head of the Transportation Security Agency (“TSA”), Robert Harding, has withdrawn from considering this evening amidst controversy over his activities surrounding his firm’s defense contract that, after an audit, was found to be improper and his firm was forced to return two million dollars to the Defense Department.

Robert Harding Has Tonight Withdrawn from Consideration for TSA Head

The AP terms it “another setback” for the Obama Administration:

President Barack Obama’s second choice for transportation security chief has withdrawn from consideration because of questions over his background as a defense contractor.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding took himself out of the running Friday night as head of the Transportation Security Administration, another setback for Obama after his first choice withdrew in January.

Harding said the distractions caused by his work as a defense contractor would not be good for the administration or the Homeland Security Department. The TSA is part of that department.

Obama's First TSA Chief Nominee, Errol Southers, Withdrew After GOP Criticism of his illegal use of FBI background checks

Obama’s first pick, Errol Southers, also withdrew under withering criticism from Republicans about an incident during Southers’ time at the FBI when he illegally accessed criminal databases regarding his estranged wife’s boyfriend and then distributed the information on the boyfriend to local police. It is truly shocking that Obama could not find a single qualified person, without a controversial past, in the entirety of the United States to lead the TSA despite having 14 months to do so, as the President’s first priority is the safety of the American people.   Perhaps Obama is having a hard time finding someone qualified to be TSA Chief who also strongly believes in unionizing the TSA employees.

The GOP had questioned the “entanglements” of Harding during his confirmation hearings this week, with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) demanding more details on Harding’s contractor ties before holding the vote on his nomination:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday questioned whether retired Maj. Gen. Robert Harding would face ethics problems because of his past business entanglements with the Pentagon if he is confirmed to head the Transportation Security Administration.

Questions have swirled around Harding Security Associates — the company Harding founded in 2001 and sold in 2009 — and contracts the company and its affiliates have with the TSA.

While Harding told lawmakers he would abide by strict White House ethics guidelines, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) said she would insist he answer more questions in writing before the committee votes on his nomination.

Harding’s old company has ties to firms with major contracts with the TSA, including one to provide full-body scanners. According to the White House, Harding will recuse himself from dealing with contracts involving his former company until July, a year after he sold it.

But the abbreviated Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing, which lasted just over an hour so members could go to the White House to watch President Barack Obama sign the health care bill, was smooth sailing compared with the tougher grilling Harding is expected to face when he goes before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

Congressional aides said senators were likely to press Harding on a more than $7 million contract his firm had to provide civilian interrogators for prisons in Iraq in 2004. The contract was subject to a Defense Department audit, and the company eventually had to return $2 million to the government, an aide said.

Apparently Harding decided that the details of his firm’s return of two million dollars to the Defense Department after an audit were too painful to disclose, and therefore he withdrew this evening. Obama’s vetting negligence has not abated over the course of the last 14 months, as the issues over the fraudulent contract and returned money certainly would have arisen during any professional vetting done before Harding’s nomination.

Regardless, America now stands without a nominee to head the TSA, let alone a TSA Administrator, for the foreseeable future. Considering the ongoing threats to Americans from international terrorism, Obama’s ongoing failure to fill this critical post so late into his Administration is sure to raise more questions about the overall competence of the Obama Administration. Indeed, Democrats themselves have made the point many times before Southers withdrew that lacking a TSA head is a serious threat to America’s national security. Harry Reid spoke of the “serious potential consequences” for America of having an empty TSA post:

“Not only is this a failed strategy, but a dangerous one as well with serious potential consequences for our country.”

One Southers supporter, a Los Angeles Police Official, noted that the Christmas Day attempted bombing proves that “no further delays” are acceptable to fill the TSA post:

Marshall McClain, the president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, said the Senate should have acted sooner to confirm Southers.

“Friday’s terrorist attack on U.S. aviation makes it all the more imperative that there be no further delays in filling this crucial position,” he said.

Not to be outdone, Senator Bennie Thompson (D-MS) claimed that the failure to have a TSA head seriously hobbles the agency’s effectiveness:

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (Miss.) also attacked DeMint, saying Tuesday that TSA needs an administrator to run at full capacity and suggested security could be weaker because of the lack of leadership.

“If TSA is to become the kind of nimble, responsive organization the American people deserve in times like this, it will need a Senate-confirmed administrator,” he said. “If nothing else, the events of last week highlighted this lack of leadership.”

Perhaps Senator Reid and Senator Thompson will now direct the same level of concern and frustration at the Obama Administration for its second failure to appoint an acceptable nominee for TSA head. President Obama must focus on this issue of the vacant TSA seat next week, instead of the planned focus on the political sideshow of campaign rallies to sell his Obamacare package, and chose a competent, scandal-free nominee to fill this void in our country’s homeland security leadership immediately.

UPDATE: Ed at Hotair underscores the point about the egregious lack of professional vetting as epitomized by Harding’s TSA nomination:

Harding had been one of The 300 during the campaign — one of the large number of national-security advisers Obama claimed whenever anyone challenged his experience in such matters. Perhaps there really is safety in numbers. No one in the McCain campaign or in the RNC appeared to notice that the candidate of Hope and Change, the Washington insider running against Washington, had an adviser who had overcharged the government as a defense contractor. Obama may have figured that no one would spot it when Harding was out in the open as a nominee, either.

This is a fairly egregious vetting error, even for an administration becoming known as incompetent at assessing potential appointees. Harding didn’t commit violations of personal tax returns, after all. He spent several years as a government contractor, and the audit and overcharge are public record. For that matter, so was Southers’ dip into sensitive databases for his own personal vendettas. Does anyone at the White House actually bother with background checks, or do they just pull names out of a hat?

The Times reports that the White House has no third choice for this position. We can expect several months to pass before Obama gets around to appointing a replacement for a key national-security post. Perhaps by the time he’s finished with this term, we may actually get one that can survive a confirmation hearing.

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