Homeland Security - the Worst Bureaucracy in Washington

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the same group that outted Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, has just released the following report which could not be more timely. What is the new anti-constitutional Office of "Homeland Security" really about? Why does it even have the name of its former likeness in the Nazi regime? Why is it patterned like the Gestapo or Stasi, for domestic control and surveillance? Is there really a substantial threat from "sleeper cells" dwelling among us in America, the mythical "Islamo fascists" that "want to kill us all"? If so, why is there no evidence of such, except through press releases later discredited?

CREW asks you to write the presidential candidates and ask them what they would do about this corrupt, ineffective, and Leviathan new bureaucracy. There is one candidate who has already answered the question, and resisted the creation of the Office in the legislative process. That candidate is Ron Paul who calls for shutting it down.

Five years ago, President Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security. Over the past five years, the American people have become far too familiar with stories about DHS and its gross overruns on projects, the worst employee morale in the federal government, the inoperability of information technology, our exposure to cyber-terrorism and FEMA's fake press conference. Today, CREW is releasing a new report, Homeland Security for Sale - DHS: Five Years of Mismanagement, detailing massive failures and billions wasted at the Department of Homeland Security. The report can be found at www.homelandsecurityforsale.org, along with a video produced by Brave New Foundation. CREW details billions of dollars in waste and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, for example: $24 billion has been spent, and at least $178 million wasted, on the failed Coast Guard Deepwater program; over $600 million has been allocated for unworkable radiation border scanners; $1.3 billion has been lost on the US-VISIT program, which was never fully implemented; and projected $2 billion loss on the SBInet "virtual fence" border program. Those who run the agency must be held accountable for its massive failures and CREW wants to spark a public debate about how DHS can and must be improved in the next administration. The next President will have to fix DHS -- and all the candidates need to provide specific plans to address the massive failings outlined in Homeland Security for Sale - DHS: Five Years of Mismanagement. Ask your presidential candidate what he or she would do to fix DHS in the next administration. The report is divided into five sections. For each, we name the worst offender and the runner-up earning dishonorable mention: I. Most Troubled DHS Component: FEMA Dishonorable Mention: TSA II. Most Outrageous Contract: Deepwater Dishonorable Mention: Radiation Detection Portal Monitors III. Failed Program: US-VISIT Dishonorable Mention: SBInet IV. Component with the Most Serious Crime Problem: CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) Dishonorable Mention: TSA V. Beneficiary of the Revolving Door: Tom Ridge Dishonorable Mentions: Holman, Buchholz, Davis, Hutchison The Department of Homeland Security is an embarrassment that would be comical if only our national security were not at stake. This is a national security crisis. The American people deserve far better from their government.