Posted on 09/22/2005 2:19:27 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Julie Myers is 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee to the Bush administration with limited executive experience.
Yet, she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Myers appointment, in the wake of FEMA's disastrous handling of the Katrina Hurricane and the resignation of its chief, Michael Brown, has people from both sides of the political aisle raising hackles.
"The Bush administration has barely rebounded from the resignation of horse show organizer Michael ‘Heck of a job' Brown from FEMA, and yet is pushing forward with the nomination of another inexperienced bureaucrat to a key post at the Department of Homeland Security," conservative syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin railed in an article out this week.
Despite the obvious résumé problems, the Bush administration is not likely to back down on the appointment.
Myers' uncle is none other than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers.
And Myers' husband is DHS chief Michael Chertoff's current chief of staff, John F. Wood.
Great contacts, but "what exactly are the 36-year-old lawyer's main credentials to solve ... dire national security problems?" asks Malkin in her op-head piece.
"Zip, Nada, Nil," answers Malkin.
Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also worried that tapping the relatively inexperienced Myers may engender down the pike another debacle like that of Katrina fall-guy Michael D. Brown, the recently resigned head of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
At a Senate hearing last week, rumblings over Myers were apparent, according to the Washington Post, with Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, at one point baldly concluding that Myers' résumé indicated that she is "not qualified for the position."
Voinovich further announced at the time that he wanted to meet with Chertoff to discuss Myers' qualifications. "I'd really like to have him spend some time with us, telling us personally why he thinks you're qualified for the job..."
Part of that highly scrutinized résumé indicates that Julie L. Myers was nominated by President Bush on June 26, 2003, and confirmed by the Senate on October 17, 2003, to serve as the assistant secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce.
During her brief tenure in her Commerce position, Myers was responsible for developing and coordinating the Department's efforts to prevent, and where necessary, sanction violations of U.S. dual-use export control laws and the anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act.
She also managed Commerce Special Agents who work at eight field offices in the United States, and oversaw the Export Enforcement's international attache program.
At Commerce, Myers oversaw just 170 federal employees and managed a budget of $25 million. In her new job heading up ICE, Myers will be expected to manage more than 20,000 employees and a $4 billion budget.
The White House has been emphasizing that Myers' role in sanctioning violations of U.S. dual-use export control laws and the anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Act represents solid law enforcement experience.
As Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman, told the Washington Post: "She's well-known and respected throughout the law enforcement community ... She has a proven track record as an effective manager."
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Myers served as the chief of staff of the Criminal Division for then-assistant attorney general Michael Chertoff at the Department of Justice.
Before that, she served as the deputy assistant secretary for Money Laundering and Financial Crimes at the Department of Treasury. She also worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York and as an Associate Independent Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for Kenneth W. Starr.
"I realize that I'm not 80 years old," Myers testified recently on Capitol Hill. "I have a few gray hairs, more coming, but I will seek to work with those who are knowledgeable in this area, who know more than I do."
Malkin couldn't let that nugget slide without comment: "Please, spare us the not-so-clever rejoinders about age and wisdom. Reagan could pull them off. Myers can't. Why hire someone who needs to ‘seek to work' with those ‘who know more than I do' in order to her job?"
After Sept. 11, Immigration, then a Justice Dept. agency, was heavily criticized for failing to stop many of the al Qaida hijackers from entering the U.S. or having them deported, as many of them were here illegally.
Malkin says Myers' appointment in light of Sept. 11 is worrisome.
"Myers may be perfectly capable of writing legal briefs and organizing policy conferences," Malkin writes. "I'm sure her knowledge of export controls is second to none. But as long as the borders are broken and al Qaida continues to exploit lax immigration enforcement, she has no business heading ICE - or any other DHS agency."
The head of ICE is required by statute to have at least five years of experience in both law enforcement and management. That requirement alone spells a world of difference between Myers and Brown, the latter having joined FEMA with no experience in disaster preparedness.
But the experience factor aside, Myers has yet another headache in the works. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is threatening to use legislative delaying tactics against Myers' nomination - until he receives a secret FBI memo about terror suspect interrogations that he's been seeking for months, according to the Associated Press.
At the heart of Levin's issue is a heavily abridged May 2004 e-mail from FBI agents seeking guidance about questioning terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay.
As far back as February, Democratic senators were asking for an unedited version of the memo to see if it mentioned or involved Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003.
However, the Justice Department has consistently nixed the request, saying the memos contain "information covered by the Privacy Act," and had nothing to do with Chertoff.
Myers was Chertoff's chief of staff at the time.
"This woman may not be qualified. But the dummycrats have no room to complain."
That still doesn't make it right.
"What gives Malkin the moral and scholastic authority to question Myer's qualifications?"
Don't we all have that right?
"she's probably going to be good, simply because I have seen so many people here on FR trashing her"
Real sound logic there..
No, I'm afraid that wouldn't do.
"then why didn't Malkin and others first suggest someone for this position"
Its her job to fill openings for bush's admin?
He appoints a 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee with limited executive experience and she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE)
And you question Malkin?
No.
Malkin tries to imply that this is croneyism, some sort of political appointment on the part of Bush.
The reality is that Myers has worked for Chertoff before and he offered this job to her. Since the job of Assistant Secretary requires Senate approval, Bush has to nominate her to the job. Bush had nothing to do with hiring her.
Chertoff should be allowed to run the agency as he sees fit.
Myers is not a political appointee, she is a career employee. Her resume has been posted here several times. Maybe you and Malkin should look at it.
The statements that Voinavitch made to Myers actually happened. But as the WaPo article points out, and NewsMax leaves out, Voinavitch met with Chertoff after the hearing and now supports Myers.
It's the truth. Whenever there's an all-out assault on somebody, it's usually conducted by sleeper trolls, who whip up the hysteria and then disappear. I think we should do a little more research before we start screaming that the sky is falling.
No, I don't need to see the young ladies resume.
I don't know, just a guess, but it would seem to me, looking at this crisis, and the lawlessness it's been causing, not to mention the billions it's costing the American tax payers, you'd think they would appoint someone with a proven, lengthy military/intelligence and border security background.
Of course what do I know?
hhhlii i
Well, before you comment on a story, you could bother getting to know the facts behind it:
http://nationalreview.com/editorial/editors200509221416.asp
"Given the importance of the position and a history of mismanagement in the immigration service, Congress took the unusual step of inserting a statutory requirement that nominees have a minimum of five years of experience in both management and law enforcement. Even a cursory reading of her resume reveals that the well-connected 36-year-old attorney’s background fails to comply with this legal requirement; in fact, she meets the bare minimum only by counting her current stint in White House Personnel, where she manages, by her own account, “up to three deputies as well as support staff and interns.”"
Not exactly the kind of fully qualified candidate most people would want to protect our nation as head of the ICE division.
Especially when there are much better candidates out there.
Which begs the question: Why nominate her? Because she will be a good soldier and not try to hard to enforce ALL the laws?
Garcia moved over to DOJ to becomes US Attorney for the southern district of New York.
Is anything he does not criticized? Even by many on this forum?
Myers is no more or less qualified for the job than the previous Assistant Secretary.
Well, believe it or not, I am not surprised. But what does this have to do with what I posted? Do you disagree with it?
There are individuals there with the skills/experience that you mention. In fact, the Acting Assistant Secretary is such a person. Hiring Myers will not deprive the Agency of the 'nuts and bolts' employees.
You are being taken in by this malarkey that Myers is a Bush's political appointee.
Chertoff should be able to hire/fire whoever he wants.
It never ceases to amaze me how some people come to their conclusions.
It has only been a week since horse-man Mike Brown, another political appointee who had no business heading FEMA was given the boot.(Mike Brown is propably a nice man, maybe even worthy of a political appointment...but not head of FEMA)
and now another political appointment to a position of EXTREME importance to head imigration with another inexperienced nominee who propably is a great person, a wonderful mom and great blood running thru her veins, but she is not qualified to head Imigration.
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