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DHS task force sees presidential transition as "most vulnerable period"

A DHS task force established to plan for the transition from the Bush Administration to the next presidency in January 2009 believes that the "most vulnerable period" runs from one month prior until six months after the change in administrations.

The task force, a subgroup of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee, released a report outlining a series of "politically neutral" recommendations that it said should apply equally to an incoming Republican or Democratic president.

"Due to the critical nature of its mission (Prevent, Prepare, Respond, and Recover), it is important that DHS take action now to ensure a seamless and agile transition to new leadership," said the report which was issued earlier this month by the Administration Transition Task Force, chaired by Glenda Hood, a Republican former Florida Secretary of State and former mayor of Orlando, FL.

The task force’s numerous recommendations include:

• Any "credible threat reports" should be disseminated to all presidential and vice presidential nominees in a "timely and reliable" fashion;
• Nominees should be encouraged to issue "one joint statement" in the event of a heightened threat level;
• DHS, the presidential nominees, their staffs and the Senate should develop an "expedited process" to handle appointments and nominees to top departmental posts "that goes far beyond the top three or four senior positions";
• Current appointees in the Bush Administration should be "incentivized" with financial bonuses to remain in their posts and overlap the new administration;
• A bipartisan group of senators should set a goal of confirming all incoming DHS nominees for national security posts "by the start of the August 2009 recess."

The task force report indicated that DHS Headquarters currently has 177 "Senior Executive" positions within its ranks. These include 12 presidential appointments who require Senate approval, 33 political appointments, 107 career employees and 25 positions currently vacant (at least three of which would also be political appointees.)

The vice chairmen of the task force are Don Knabe, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and John Magaw, former Under Secretary for Security at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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