Kerik Named to Lead Homeland Security

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) has chosen former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped oversee the city's response to the Sept. 11 attacks, to run the Department of Homeland Security, a senior administration official said Thursday.

Bush also announced his choice of Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to be agriculture secretary, choosing a dairy farmer's son who has traveled widely to promote American farm sales abroad.

And, in a third development, U.N. Ambassador John Danforth submitted his resignation, an official said. Danforth had taken the post last June.

The flurry of announcements came as Bush reshaped his team for his second term in office.

Kerik's path to the top anti-terror position, replacing Tom Ridge, has been anything but conventional.

A military policeman in South Korea (news - web sites) in the 1970s, Kerik's first anti-terrorism work was as a paid private security worker in Saudi Arabia. He joined the New York Police Department in 1986, first walking a beat in Times Square when it was still a haven for small-time hustlers.

He eventually was tapped to lead the city's corrections department, and was appointed commissioner in 2000.

It was in that position that he became known to the rest of the country, supervising the NYPD's response to the 2001 terror attacks, often at the side of then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In 2003, he took on a temporary assignment in Iraq (news - web sites) to help rebuild the country's police force.

After the 9/11 attack, Kerik helped rally a department that lost 23 members. Most recently, he has been a consultant for Giuliani Partners, working to rebuild Baghdad's police force.

Danforth had been mentioned as a successor to Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), but Bush picked Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites). Danforth plans to retire.

Danforth, 68, a Republican former Missouri senator, has been tapped by presidents of both parties as a troubleshooter. He led a Clinton-era investigation of the Waco Branch Davidian affair, and Bush named him special envoy for peace in Sudan. Danforth took over at the United Nations (news - web sites) when Bush's first ambassador, John Negroponte, resigned this year.

This is just fantastic, turns out this guy is a high school dropout, who has ridden the coat tails of Rudy Guilliani his whole career. Turns out, ol' Bernie became of favorite of Rudy's after he was his driver in one of his campaigns. I don't really see how this guy is qualified, but he is probably better than Tom Ridge. I know he was police commissioner of NYC, but I don't think he earned that position either. To me the whole Homeland Security Dept. is a joke!

Yeah, but how qualified do you have to be to head a department that's completely unneccessary?

What the hell would you guys know? I didn't think this man could be criticized. But with some of the bias people on this board, I guess he coudl be. The man grew up with a rough childhood, abandoned by his parents etc. A third degree black belt and military man. Comes to New York to be a police officer. Gets awarded the Medal of VAlor for saving the life of a fellow officer. Had the balls to go undercover as a cocaine dealer in the streets of Harlem and the outcome was a number of successful arrests. For his duty, he got promoted all the way to the top of the police chain, becoming the New York City Police Commissioner. Thats just a little bit of his accomplishments in life.

I feel none of you should or could break this man with your words. His dedication to Justice should be praised by all of us. And no man better than him to run Homeland Security. He is a bull, fearless and dedicated. I feel after 9/11, you should give a little respect and thanks to the men in blue, most certainly this man.

It could be worse. President Bush could have nominated his gay Israeli lover to head Homeland Security.

--PunkDavid

i think i am offended as a new jersey resident. he was doing pretty damn well elsewhere... except for the other twelve scandals which were about to eclipse his political career that were all poised to explode at the same moment. sigh. viva corzine.

What is it that makes Bernard Kerik qualified to be Homeland Security Secretary?

I just don't see how a NYC Police Commsissioner with a teeny bit of experience overseas can possibly have the national experience needed for a job like Homeland Security Secretary.

I'll keep reading and see what I see...

I think this story is similar to those of many police officers around the country. Does it qualify them to be the person in charge of Homeland Security???....NO! If this was the case, we would have hundreds of thousands of people who were qualified for the job.




I'm getting a little tired of people using 9/11 as an excuse for things. Yes, he was police commissioner at the time, yes he did a good a job that day, yes he might be a good man, but the bottom line is that this is a man of little education, little experience interpreting foreign intelligence, and no experience running an organization at the national level. Granted, Homeland Security is not the greatest bureau we have, but this is an area where we have to make drastic improvements in. We need the best man for the job. What we don't need is a director that is only there because he is recognizable from TV, who just happens to be good friends with a man that has influence over the president. I doubt there is anybody out there that convince me that Kerick is qualified for this job.[/b]

I have no bias against this man. I just want to know what makes him qualified for national office.

How is a man who has managed a large city's worth of police able to handle a whole country's worth of security issues?

How will he know what Montana needs in the way of security if his scope of experience covers one east coast city and a handful of overseas jobs?

Montana needs a lone cowboy on a horse with a Winchester rifle and a Marlboro. That ought to keep them perfectly safe from terrorists.

New York and Washington on the other hand...

--PunkDavid

does anyone know if there were other candidates/choices for this position??

I do have some reservations about his qualifications, however he may also turn out to be a very solid bureau cheif.

Here is what we do know:

1.) He will be fully briefed by the administration as well as by former secretary Ridge on the ins and outs of the HS Department. Rest assured that when he is put fully in charge, he will not be "in the dark". Again, we will have to wait and see how it works out.

2.) The department is still relatively new, so the only precedent he has before him is Ridge. This may or may not serve to his advantage, only time will tell.

3.) He is used to administrating departments and bureaus, granted not on this level, but he does have related experience.

4.) He knows law enforcement and criminal justice, which is certainly not a hinderance for this position, but an added tool that is one advantage he has over Ridge.

5.) Bush is in charge and what he says, as well as whom he appoints, is what goes. We cannot change that, but we should watch things with both an open-mind and a critical eye. Maybe he will do a fine job, and maybe he won't. Time will tell.

Again, the department is new, so what qualifies as "experience" for this position is still a matter of debate at this point. He lacks experience in some areas, but he has more experience in others. He is different from Ridge, so we'll see if someone with more law enforcement experience will make a better HS Secretary. If he doesn't work, then we'll know that his experience was simply not enough.

After about eight more years or so, we'll have a pretty good idea of what type of person should be in charge of HS, and we'll know what type of experience/education is critical for such a job. I'll give Kerick a shot, with some reservations, fully realizing that the decision has been made.

I do not want terrorists to be sucessful in the US. No one, whether liberal, conservative, democrat or republican, should either.

In the long run, I don't see Homeland Security making a huge impact. My reasoning behind this is that no one really knows it's exact purpose and scope (what exactly can they do or have they done?). Secondly, I feel that since this bureau was so sloppily put together in the wake of 9/11 it will have a tough time gaining its own jurisdiction, since the Defense dept., the CIA, the FBI, and the INS and others already have their grips on much of our security in the United States. However, if done correctly I believe the department of Homeland Security coud be used as a meeting point for all the agencies to come together to exchange information. This could also leave the door open for a national intelligence director to come into play under the guise of Homeland Security Secretary. Just a thought though. Anyone feel that this might be a logical step for Homeland Security? Opinions?

The Homeland Security department, created a mere two years ago, now has 180,000 employees. Un-be-fuck-ing-liev-a-ble.

<tasteless sarcasm>Oh, Montana can take care of themselves, don't worry</tasteless sarcasm>

Personally, I'm of the default thinking that the heads of these agencies are rarely the most qualified. To the victor go the spoils, as Andrew Jackson showed us so bluntly.

I mean, would Ashcroft have been Attorney General if he didn't lose to a dead man?

For what its worth, I believe a significant number of those employees were already on the govt. payroll working for depts. or agencies that were then brought under the umbrella of the Dept. of Homeland Security. I'm not positive about that but I think that's the case. Also, It is one of those ironic twists that the so-called anti-big govt. conservatives are responsible for the foundation of one of, if not the, largest beauratic entities in our nation's history. Having said that I want to even out that statement by saying that for me the jury is still out on the relevancy of the Dept. of Homeland Security. There have been no additional attacks on our soil since 9/11 so that is definately one in the plus column.

The Kerik hath been smitten!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... d_security

Kerik Withdraws His Name for Top DHS Job

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - In a surprise move, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Bush (news - web sites)'s choice to be homeland security secretary Friday night, saying questions have arisen about the immigration status of a housekeeper and nanny he employed.

The decision caught the White House off guard and sent Bush in search of a new candidate to run the sprawling bureaucracy of more than 180,000 employees melded together from 22 disparate federal agencies in 2003.

Kerik informed Bush of his decision to withdraw in a telephone call at 8:30 p.m. EST. "I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to the president.

The White House said Bush accepted Kerik's decision.

Kerik is not the first prominent official to fall victim to the "nanny problem." Similar issues killed the nomination hopes of three candidates for top administration posts in the Clinton administration.

One administration official helping prepare Kerik for Senate confirmation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerik's unexpected decision shocked senior leaders at the Homeland Security Department. This official said Kerik still had not filled out all his ethics filings — which would detail his sources of income and financial liabilities — and said the FBI (news - web sites) background investigation of Kerik was still incomplete.

But the only moderately troubling information uncovered about Kerik so far was news that Kerik had earned $6.2 million by exercising stock options he received from Taser International, which did lucrative business with the Department of Homeland Security, this official said.

The White House had defended him against questions of conflict of interest involving his relationship with Taser. "We have full confidence in his integrity and we are confident that he will take the appropriate steps necessary to make sure that there are no conflicts there," White House press secretary Scott McClellan had said at his midday briefing.

Kerik said the problematic issue arose as he was completing documents required for Senate confirmation. "I uncovered information that now leads me to question the immigration status of a person who had been in my employ as a housekeeper and nanny. It has also been brought to my attention that for a period of time during such employment required tax payments and related filings had not been made."

Kerik said he feared that the disclosure of the issue would generate intense scrutiny that would "only serve as a significant and unnecessary distraction to the vital efforts of the Department of Homeland Security."

So he'll have a working knowledge of our color coded terror alert system? Thank god, I was worried there for a moment.

You're correct. There's been numerous agencies that have since been reassigned under the heading of Homeland Security. Even parts of the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service now technically work for Homeland Security. Ever seen the beagles at the airport?

I have to give this guy props for withdrawing his name....over something that seems pretty minor too. So many government officials are lying thieves, yet somebody actually had the balls to come clean, especially over what is seemingly not really that offensive. Props to him.