WP: (Doyle) DHS Background Check Questioned

[DeepModem Mom]

DHS Background Check Questioned
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 7, 2006; Page A04

The Department of Homeland Security official arrested Tuesday on charges of seducing a minor over the Internet faced disciplinary action at his previous workplace, Time magazine's Washington bureau, for misusing company equipment to download pornography, friends and former colleagues said.

Federal officials would not say whether the incident came to the attention of federal investigators who conducted a background check in 2004 on Brian J. Doyle, 55. Originally hired as a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration in 2002, he was detailed to Homeland Security the next year and became deputy press secretary cleared to handle top-secret material in November 2005, a department spokeswoman said.

Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who has launched a congressional investigation into DHS hiring practices and security protocols, said Doyle's conduct should have been uncovered. King said the arrest revealed a threat to national security because it showed Doyle could be compromised by foreign agents.

"It's easy for me to stand on the sidelines and criticize . . . but if there was an incident at Time magazine, Homeland Security above all should have found it," King said. "Homeland Security is our last line of defense, and to be taken seriously, you have to have very, very strict security standards."...

***

Although U.S. Office of Personnel Management investigators interviewed Time supervisors and co-workers, an OPM official would not say whether they uncovered the incident or whether it would have been grounds for rejecting Doyle....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601876.html

[Mabus]

1. Are they incompetent? Do they really care at all?

:shrug: Amazing. Simply amazing. Ever since Clarence "Long Dong Silver" Thomas made it to the Supreme Court this information doesn't surprise me anymore. Hypocrisy at every level.

edited to add "Long Dong Silver" to emphasize my comment about Thomas was in reference to his predilection for porn. And to correct the spelling of "incompetent" in the subject line.

[izzie]

3. Wasn't it great that Bush brought Class acts back to DC?

I knew we had to worry when he ran on that good value stuff. You always have to worry when people tell you how moral they are. You are never sure if you should hold on to your wallet or your skirt down.

[Mabus]

5. Ain't that the truth

Bringing integrity back to the White House my ass. Unless, "Integrity" was Gannon's code name.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Being around power provides cover.

Arguably, the DHS may well be the most empowered, most portfolio'ed law enforcement agency in the US, if not the world. Witness the fact that the enforcement of child pornography laws has been turned over to them, largely. How many other, not originally announced enforcement tasks do they have now?

If someone wanted to collect child porn and try to get his mits on minors, few places could have offered a safer haven(at least in the mind of one of these guys), than the DHS. The perfect cover. Tons of plausible deniability. Power. A badge. Badges are a great "get out of jail" card when someone screws up.

It is this same process that seems to have attracted a lot of other people who have ended up being charged with crimes that have victims: proximity to power(ie:the repukes) is like a bug lamp. Or, as we are seeing, a bug zapper.

Why are we seeing so much of these crimes? Two reasons:

1. Certainly, better enforcement of the laws.

2. A sense of powerlessness in a lot of men, as the US economic system and the society built around it deconstructs.

Seems like this "sense of entitlement" thing is a double-edged sword.

[classics]

4. Am I the only person who has a hard time taking DHS seriously?

To me they seem like a bunch of guys being paid a lot to look busy and keep everyone as frightened as possible.

[Mabus]

6. You give them more credit than I do

They help facilitate the fear, on an "as needed" basis, that the WH needs to propagate to keep the masses distracted. Otherwise, to me, they are too busy hiding in their offices (and at least one of them was too busy soliciting minors on the internet) to avoid reminding people the great job they did during the last hurricane season.

[Vidar]

7. The same background check as always for Bush cronies:

They have to be corrupt & not noticably more competent than the shrub.