podesta_email_02751.txt

podesta-emails 1,706 words email

D6 P17 P19 V16 V11

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Soothed for now. Spoke to him tonight. Can provide details as needed On 11/2/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Obviously, this raises a range of concerns about Steve and the possibility > this will leak, among others. Jim will ensure we first have all the > backstory and then be in touch with Steve. I will follow up as necessary. > > Susan > > Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Stephen Flynn" <[email protected]> > > Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 01:35:44 > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: STEVE FLYNN'S TRANSITION TEAM RESIGNATION LETTER > > > Dear Susane: > > > > I write with sadness that today I have advised Rand Beers that I intend to > resign from the DHS Transition Team. I see this as my last recourse in > sounding this alarm: the Obama transition process has not assigned > sufficient priority to: (1) the deeply troubled state of the Department of > Homeland Security, and (2) the exposure that presents to the incoming > Administration and the nation. > > > > I cannot overstate how badly broken the Department of Homeland Security is. > It would also be reckless to understate how damaging it will be to an Obama > presidency should it be seen as inept in responding to a major -terrorist > incident or catastrophic natural disaster. The homeland security issue > never came up during the general election so the public is largely > oblivious > to the fact that the new Administration will be inheriting a flawed > homeland > security strategy, a frail homeland security bureaucracy of 218,000 people > who are suffering from low morale and contentious congressional > relationships, and a national state of unpreparedness. When tested and the > federal homeland security apparatus breaks-and it will-President Obama will > own the failure. > > > > Given this reality, I have watched with alarm the extent to which the > review > of homeland security policy and the Department of Homeland Security > received > so little attention in the pre-transition process. The DHS agency review > was assigned as a subgroup to the intelligence-review subgroup, under the > National Security/International Affairs working group. What that > translated > into were 3 people including myself working with John Gannon and later Rand > Beers on the pre-transition papers. Scott Gould was drawn off to run the > Veteran Affairs subgroup, so the DHS transition 20 pp memo and guidance was > drafted by me and my brilliant former research assistant Rob Knake. Rand > Beers made some modest revisions last week and has forwarded it on the > Obama > transition team leadership. > > > > Let me be clear. DHS is the 3rd largest federal department after DoD and > Veteran Affairs. Its operating agencies are deeply skeptical of an > incoming > Obama administration who they are convinced will not treat their mission > and > associated challenges as a priority. Less than one quarter of the current > DHS headquarters staff has held their current position for more than two > years. DHS has managed to frustrate or alienate every constituency that is > essential to its mission: state and local homeland security officials, > police, and emergency responders; industry working groups from all the > critical infrastructure sectors; the other federal departments and agencies > with overlapping jurisdiction; foreign counterparts in Canada, Mexico, and > EU; and the myriad Congressional members and committee & subcommittee > staffs > that have oversight responsibilities. All of DHS's major acquisition > programs are plagued by technical problems, cost overruns, and missed > deadlines that will require immediate managerial attention. While speaking > in political terms is not my strong suit, the one analogy I would offer is > that the situation a President-elect Obama will be facing is analogous to > becoming the newly-elected Mayor of Chicago and inheriting a decrepit > public > works department that is short of snow plows. Addressing the issue may not > be sexy, but hoping for a mild-Chicago winter is not a politically viable > or > survivable option. > > > > 10 days ago, I became so apprehensive over the lack of attention the > homeland security issue and DHS has been receiving that I tried to arrange > an appointment with John Podesta while I was in Washington to outline my > concerns. He was out of town so I asked to be placed on his call-back > list, > but the last days of the campaign and other matters have obviously > precluded > him from getting back to me. So I continued to soldier ahead, trying to > highlight these issues in the attached pre-transition paper in the hope > that > that would serve as something of a wake-up call. > > > > Over the last few days, I developed a new worry that I conveyed to Rand > Beers. I began hearing from a growing number of my many contacts inside > DHS > and its component agencies a mix of the to-be-expected anxiety over a > likely > Obama win, but balanced with a sense of relative optimism fueled by recent > media reporting that they would be working with a well-organized, and > disciplined transition process. Given the > "first-impressions-are-everything" orientation of the law enforcement and > military cultures that dominate DHS, I became uneasy that when it came to > the transition process for the 3rd largest department in the federal > government, the first impression the Obama team was likely to convey would > not match their expectation-and an unflattering first impression would be > difficult to recover from. > > > > All of this has come to a head over the past 36 hours. I learned on Friday > morning that Admiral Jim Loy declined to serve as co-team leader of the > Obama DHS transition team. Also as of Friday morning, I had still not been > informed of who else had been invited to serve on the post-election DHS > transition team beyond myself, PJ Crowley, Ruchi Bhowmik, and Rob Knake, > nor > were my recommendations solicited. Recognizing that we were rapidly > running > out of time to get a work plan done and the team up and running, I offered > to step into the co-team leader role and share the burden of leadership > with > Rand Beers for the DHS team so that I would be in a better position to do > all I could to help put things on track. The answer I received was, > "thanks, but no thanks." > > > > To summarize, working within the Obama transition process over the last > several weeks, I have been unsuccessful in communicating the extent to > which > the policy and organizational issues associated with homeland security have > fallen through the cracks. Given that neither the department nor the > homeland security mission was around in the Clinton administration, it > should not be surprising that there are very few Democrats who have an > intimate understanding of DHS-including the full-range of its quirky > missions and vexing problems. While I am one of them, apparently my > reputation as a leading expert and practitioner on this issue carries too > little weight for the transition team leaders to take my concerns seriously > and for them to recognize the leadership I could provide to help put things > on track. While I can understand the political calculus by the Obama > campaign to downplay the homeland security issue during the election, I > cannot quietly stand by and participate in a transition process that is not > making this critical issue a serious priority. > > > > I therefore tender my resignation from the transition team. While > resigning > from an opportunity to support such a promising president is a painful > decision, I am hoping it might help prevent a recurrence of the acute pain > and remorse I endured in the aftermath of 9/11. Since the time of the > attacks on New York and Washington, I have been burdened by the memory of > my > Hart-Rudman Commission experience of failing to get the incoming Bush > administration to acknowledge the risk and its implications of a likely > catastrophic terrorist attack on US soil. > > > > Should there be interest in how the concerns I have outlined above might be > addressed even at this late date, I can be reached via my cell at (860) > 941-9281 or via my e-mail at [email protected]. > > > > I had intended to address this letter to John Podesta as well, but have > discovered that I have only his assistant, Juliana Gendelman's email > address. Accordingly, I would appreciate your forwarding a copy of this > message directly to him as well. > > > > Very respectfully yours, > > > > Steve > > __________________ > > Stephen E. Flynn, Ph.D. > > Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism > > and National Security Studies > > Council on Foreign Relations > > 58 East 68th St. > > New York, NY 10065 > > (212) 434-9676 > > Fax (646) 349-1122 > > [email protected] > > > > Research Associate: > > Erika Wool > > (212) 434-9650 > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > > -- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com