DHS Chief Janet Napolitano Resigns 192
schwit1 writes with news that the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has resigned her post. Napolitano entered the office at the beginning of President Obama's first term, and she was only the third person to hold the position since it was created in response to the September 11th attacks. In a statement, she said the Department of Homeland Security "has improved the safety of travelers; implemented smart steps that make our immigration system more fair and focused while deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders; worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust; and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity." Napolitano will be taking over the presidency of the University of California's 10-campus education system. "UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures — will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas."
University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Funny)
"They said 'California is the place you outta be' so she loaded up he spooks and she moved to Beverly..."
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Insightful)
But I'm sure that money is well spent: I mean, if Napolitano can bring the same magic to the UC system that she did to DHS, then maybe the UC system will be safe from imagingary threats from Al Quaeda. And isn't that more important than students getting an education? We decided it was more important than the constitution, so yes, the answer is yes whether you like it or not.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Interesting)
The theory is that you get what you pay for. A $150,000 salary might attract someone who can save $5 mil. A $600,000 salary might attract someone better who can save $10 mil. In the end, taxpayers might be better off with a higher paid person if they can bring in the benefits. Professors at research universities operate on a similar principal... they might get paid $250,000 because they bring in $10 million in grants.
Of course, that's the theory.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Informative)
that may be, but Napolitano didn't save any money. She increased costs substantially, caused economic turmoil for the country with the policies she supported [economist.com], and spent over 200 million bucks on those scanners which have saved us approximately $0. Did I mention the amount of tourism lost because people were like "Fuck this country" over things like claiming we can randomly stop people in 3/4 of the country. You may think it's a TSA thing, but TSA and DHS go hand in hand. Plus DHS harassing the shit out of foreigners, as well. [thinkprogress.org]
So does that mean she's working gratis? sadly, no.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but for the scanners we wasted money on, that was revenue and probably a lot of profit for the manufacturers. You do realize that the entire sole purpose of the Federal government, is to subsidize a select few friendly mega-corps at our expense (monetary expense, freedom expense). Napolitano did that job perfectly.
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Yeah, but for the scanners we wasted money on, that was revenue and probably a lot of profit for the manufacturers.
Are you familiar with the Broken Window Fallacy [wikipedia.org]? Napolitano and the makers of those scanners certainly should be.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:4)
Napolitano: "deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders"
And here is the main clue for us all. "record resources" is just another way for the government to say "Transfered record amounts of middle class tax dollars to a few good friends."
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Interesting)
And a sizable percentage of UC's supporters would rather see Napolitano in prison than in charge of that institution. Perhaps the regents should have considered what this is going to do to their funding before they chose someone like Napolitano to run their institution.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:4, Informative)
I realized that Napolitano is basically the Margaret Thatcher of the US. Hated, and people will be much happier when she's dead.
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I just want to point out that TSA is only a small part of DHS. Janet Napolitano is in charge of TSA.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Insightful)
Above a certain level, though, you start to pull in the wrong kinds of people. You can definitely get a better professor for $100k than $60k, and probably can get a top one for $200k. But if you're paying an administrator $600k? Now you start pulling in people who don't care about academia, and are just in it for the money. I think it might be better not incentivizing them to jump to academia; academic administration is becoming a revolving door of people from industry and government doing 3-year stints to put on their CV, when it would be better served by people with some kind of actual knowledge about, and commitment to, research and education.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:4, Interesting)
A a point you tend to attract people who either cheat, game the system, or have connections, more than skill.
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Only if they're employed by the med school.
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...might attract someone better who can save $10 mil.
No one in government positions try to SAVE money. They bitch and moan for more money. When they don't get it, they cut necessary stuff that will hurt the most, while preserving pet projects and the pay and positions of government union employees.
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That's funny-- the anti-capitalists keep telling us that doesn't work for private companies, and criticize companies for their high-paid CEOs.
You don't have to be anti-capitalist to think that most CEOs are absurdly overpaid and that you could get someone just as good at their job for a fraction of the cost.
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Interesting)
/s. This is idiotic. Why is a taxpayer supported institution wasting money like she's a CEO?
Why do you get a CEO? Sometimes it's only for the connections. And Janet Napolitano has a lot of connections. The key is this quote:
"will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas."
There are groups in the government that want to take those programs away from UC, and privatize them (or whatever). UC wants to keep them because they bring in a lot of money from the federal government. Janet will help with that because of her connections.
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There are groups in the government that want to take those programs away from UC, and privatize them (or whatever). UC wants to keep them because they bring in a lot of money from the federal government. Janet will help with that because of her connections.
A simple solution here would be to get rid of the facilities in question. Then you don't need to employ someone like Napolitano. You know, don't lie down with dogs, don't get up with fleas.
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Getting rid of UC's medical research facilities is indeed a very simple answer.
Didn't "simple" used to be one of the euphemisms for "mentally retarded"?
I think the GP was referring to the military contracts, not necessarily the medical research. Be that as it may, it seems wasteful (and ... cronyish) to hire a powerful Federal administrator that can use influence and connections to obtain grant money rather than allow the grant applications to pass or fail based on the merits of the research involved. They've already gotten too focused on "monetizing patents", which can bring in a lot of money for treating things like sexual dysfunction and balding, than
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if Napolitano can bring the same magic to the UC system that she did to DHS, then maybe the UC system will be safe from...
If by "magic" you mean her using her DC connections to get more federal dough into the UC system one way or another, then probably. This reeks of hiring a DC insider to get cash...
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:5, Funny)
You're thinking about it all wrong. They're not paying her to work there, they're paying her NOT to work at DHS!
Don't forget to budget... (Score:2)
Don't forget to budget for the extra half million or so rounds of ammunition needed by University Police, for training purposes of course.
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More than that. I'd say Napolitano is probably the least knowledgeable person about terrorism in the Obama cabinet, which is just fucking sad.
She repeatedly claims there is no violence along the US/Mexico border, even though Arizona happens to be the kidnapping capital of the world, and people as far north as Chandler, AZ have been beheaded by Cartel members.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6848672&page=1#.UeBPe23aW2U [go.com]
I remember it was her who made it sound like right wing groups were ready to stor
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Better yet, UC will get all that money from educating illegal immigrants....oh wait....
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That's the name of her Wife?
Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her. (Score:4, Interesting)
and a cry went up from the dark corners of campus, "woo-hoo, strip-search the co-eds."
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FWIW the police in Berkeley have long had a reputation for being strict and unkind. They are virtually the figurative personification of the man. So she'll fit in that niche.
Plus, being California, the vast majority of people who have the balls and/or means to fight against such authoritarian bullshit are already in prison.
Should make completing the fascist takeover a fairly straightforward manner.
U of Califonia always loved the federal gov. (Score:2)
University of California's not just a bunch of hippies.
Their Chancellor talked in February about how fe feared they were "morphing into a federal university". http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/chancellor-uc-berkeley-morphing-federal-university-8816 [californiawatch.org]
This is just one more step in that progression.
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Hahahaha- yeah, where more than half her students can be the "Dreamers" she gave 2 year deferments of deportation to.
Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seems to be the going paradigm for those high up in the current administration.
I kinda long for the past days of where it was just the #1 guy getting a hummer outside the Oval office. At least that didn't hurt US citizens' lives.
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I'm curious about what scandal was about to break that involved her...?
Seems to be the going paradigm for those high up in the current administration.
I kinda long for the past days of where it was just the #1 guy getting a hummer outside the Oval office. At least that didn't hurt US citizens' lives.
No scandal- she probably just won't go as far as our center-right authoritarian overlord wanted her to.
I anticipate we will be stunned by what her replacement is willing to do, stunned even given recent revelations.
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Bullshit. Obama is Center-Right by American standards...just not by the standards of our media echo-chamber, which is far further to the right than the general public.
This isn't just personal observation either (well, the media echo-chamber being the cause is)...studies show the American public is further left than people think it is. One example: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/05/politicians_think_americans_are_super_conservative/ [salon.com]
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All American Politicians are leftists. Just a different variety than you think.
They are one of two varieties: Sexual libertines (what passes for the true left in the United States) or fiscal libertines (what passes for the right in the United States).
You can tell the sexual libertines by their rabid defense of the abortion industry and an absolutist right for everybody to the Holy Orgasm.
You can tell the fiscal libertines by their rabid defense of the financial industry and an absolutist right for the ri
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Well...in a sense they're all everything because Left/Right is a TERRIBLE way to explain political ideology.
They're all Authoritarian/Right when using a 2-coordinate system.
http://politicalcompass.org/uselection2012 [politicalcompass.org]
(FWIW, this thing uses a -10 to +10 scale, and I'm personally around (-8,-8) way off in the Libertarian/Left corner...so fuck 'em all.)
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Spot on. I really can't see why people delude themselves that a Constitutional Lawyer would be anything other than conservative.
Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm curious about what scandal was about to break that involved her...?
Seems to be the going paradigm for those high up in the current administration.
That is my thought exactly, or maybe she is just fed up with managing and defending a corrupt and over-reaching
government department and wants out before she becomes unhireable.
Stepping out of DHS she will lose all the protection that the administration would provide, but that protection
might not mean much when the next shoe drops.
The other possibility is she sees that she will the scapegoat for the Snowden affair anyway so she might as
well get out of the street before she gets thrown under the bus.
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And now we're duping the comments.
Brilliant!
And not much changes... (Score:2, Insightful)
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I'd say "good riddance!",
So would I. But now she's my new boss. Great.
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Fun question: What did UC get in the exchange? We know what the quid is, but what's the quo?
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Venereal disease.
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Immigration? (Score:5, Informative)
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How can this be modded off-topic
A troop of macaques on LSD got access to an account with mod points. It happens, just wipe the poop off and move on.
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as military tactics move inland from US borders
So you're saying highly armed SWAT teams with tanks driving around on city streets, breaking down doors in residential homes and slaughtering house pets doesn't make you feel safer?
Land of the free, baby! At least for very small values of free.
I speak for all of us when I say (Score:5, Insightful)
GFY Janet, you fascist, power-grabbing hooligan.
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Welcome our new political police and security services that will ensure the internet stays packet pure with every more vigilant "network hygiene"
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Re:I speak for all of us when I say (Score:4, Interesting)
Whether they are or not depends entirely on your perspective:
So the question of whether they are or are not political prisoners hinges entirely upon whether the U.S. invasion was a legal action or not. Given that nobody is big enough to force a war crimes trial against the U.S., it is unlikely that the latter question will ever be fully resolved except by default, so there's really no way to say whether they are or are not political prisoners....
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"hold them without trail"
Is hiking now a human right?
I know you're joking, but: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_United_States_law [wikipedia.org]
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The private sector seems to be in the news wrt cybersecurity in the past few days.
A new view on cyber offense http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/?p=110420-ga [wired.com]
Terms like network hygiene http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access [guardian.co.uk].
The internet seems to be taking on a whole new role wrt to security from the desktop to corporate to the role of media.
The fun of "citation needed" to many of the bigger q
Re:I speak for all of us when I say (Score:5, Insightful)
With her resigning her post, this day is a great day for the entire country.
While governor of my home state (Arizona), she was a friend of big government and an enemy of libertarian views. She ran up the Arizona state budget by billions, starting new and costly programs, with no long-term plans on how to pay for them in leaner times. She also pushed hard for planting the roots of a surveillance state, led by state-wide photo radar on state highways.
Then in 2008, seeing the writing on the wall - she was term-limited and couldn't run again, the state's economy/budget was about to tank as the first signs of the housing collapse were appearing - she sucked up HARD to Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail and grabbed the first government post thrown her way as payment.
Many of us here in Arizona cheered when she left, but quietly shuddered when we realized what position she'd taken, knowing her views. IMO, we're lucky we've only had to deal with naked body scanners and that enough people pushed back against her, "to hell with privacy - we need to keep these idiots safe," mentality to keep her in check. Maybe we're also lucky she was generally incompetent and became more of a DC bureaucrat that became too politically paralyzed to push for her grand views of what she would've really wanted to implement?
And you've gotta wonder what changes she could possibly bring to a university system. She was part of a sprawling bureaucracy in DC - I guess the UC system wants a bigger bureaucracy? Maybe they just want to capitalize on her connections in DC to get federal funds (making her a de facto lobbyist)?
On the future DHS replacement - here's to hoping the president doesn't pick another bureaucrat. Maybe the president will live up to some of his campaign promises now on openness in government when picking her successor? Realistically, I'm pretty sure it won't be a Ron Paul type...
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I forgot to add that the state government and her replacement (Jan Brewer) did a great job of managing the fiscal disaster Napalitano bailed on for her cushy job. Instead of accounting gimmicks like what Janet did (selling state government properties and leasing them from new owners, etc.), they tightened their belts and got the job done by raising revenue and cutting costs. Even hard core, liberal Democrats that hate Jan Brewer for wagging her finger at President Obama have to appreciate what she did to be
The truth is out there (Score:2)
Napolitano is heading out there to ensure that the Sharknado [imdb.com] does not come to pass. She's going to take flying lessons so she can hover a helicopter 50 feet away from the up-coming EF4 tornado and "blow it up".
Wasted funds on an epic scale (Score:5, Insightful)
"implemented smart steps"
With the huge pile of body scanners sitting unused in warehouses thanks to DHS's wild (and illegal) binge on ineffective and invasive scanning technology, I have a hard time with their using the phrase "smart steps". In fact it's so bad, it almost seems like an inside joke. Not funny. And Janet? You make me sick
No scandal??? (Score:2)
It's so dull when a public figure resigns for reasons other than "to spend more time with my family".
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tellingly 'relevant' experience (Score:5, Insightful)
"UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures — will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas."
It's a good thing there's no need to have the head of a university system have experience in anything like education or research. All that matters is those security-industry connections!
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Her experience is inline with her new job, head bureaucrat of bureaucrats - Reagants of The University of California
Were you misspelling Regents or Reagents? Because I'd like to see them used as the latter in a dramatic reaction.
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This is the UC, not your local community college.
True, they should be hiring Kiefer Sutherland for his extensive acting experience in these matters.
I've got this one (Score:5, Insightful)
has improved the safety of travelers;
Prove a negative. Nice.
implemented smart steps that make our immigration system more fair and focused while deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders;
So...nothing. No, wait! Nothing, but we spent "record resources" achieving it.
worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust;
So..nothing again. At least, nothing quantifiable, which is pretty much the same thing.
and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity.
Did...she just list PRISM as an accomplishment on her resume?
Stunning.
Re:I've got this one (Score:5, Insightful)
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Did...she just list PRISM as an accomplishment on her resume?
Stunning.
No silly. PRISM is NSA. Janet is DHS. Get your TLA's straight.
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Damn it, you're right.
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Personally, I'm a bit surprised she (are we sure of that?) didn't brag about how, under her(?) leadership, the DHS acquired enough guns, tanks, and ammo to wage war on the American people for a solid decade.
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and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity.
Did...she just list PRISM as an accomplishment on her resume?
Maybe she was talking about HBGary and Stratfor
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has improved the safety of travelers;
Under Napolitano not a single passenger has been mauled by a tiger in American airspace.
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The second may not have been necessary because of the first one, but it ensured that he did not
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worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust;
So..nothing again. At least, nothing quantifiable, which is pretty much the same thing.
Oh, no, this one isn't "nothing", you've read it wrong. What they mean by this is "we have equipped your local police force will military equipment and trained them how to treat the local residents as enemy soldiers." And they've done a really good job at it. They're now using no-knock paramilitary raids for pretty much any suspect, whether they are considered potentially violent or not. And killing the pets.
Re:I've got this one (Score:4, Insightful)
There's more than enough blame to go around.
At least Snowden had the integrity and honor to do something about it.
uc system (Score:5, Funny)
when will the official groping policy be implemented on the campuses?
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when will the official groping policy be implemented on the campuses?
Freshman year of course
"has improved the safety of travelers" (Score:5, Funny)
'nuff said.
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Mod way up.
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[Citation needed]
'nuff said.
I don't see any tigers around, do you?
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I can personally vouch that inspections have detected prostrate cancer at an early enough stage to save lives.
Oh thank God. (Score:2)
The day seems a little brighter.
two comments (Score:2)
Good (Score:4, Interesting)
We need someone to keep an eye on those hippies over at UC Berkeley.
UC admission process (Score:5, Funny)
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The body cavity search was just a deposit. For the actual fee, they charge and arm and a leg.
Big Sister is gone (Score:2)
Sounds like an opportunity (Score:2)
So one of the regime's big thugs is out. This would be a good time for the president to declare DHS a failed idea and abolish it. Of course he wouldn't phrase it that way. he would laud this thug's accomplishments and declare the department's ten year reign of terror a grand success and say it was no longer needed due the regime's advancements, and he will be able to save a lot of money due to his superior administrative skills with DHS' duties performed by some of its components, and other activities not p
Re:Sounds like an opportunity (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not Suited (Score:2)
Do the "UC Officials" realize that J. does not use email? I suspect she doesn't even know how to use a computer. I'm not convinced someone like that is really suited to run a university system, where students should have those skills, and are in an environment where communicating electronically is essential.
napolitano did a terrible job at our expense (Score:2)
Ya? Nice Gig (Score:3)
Something that may cause Chancellor Janet to grin, just a little. The difference between the UC system, and that candy ass operation she headed in DC is that in California, the Tea Party is forced to do something it doesn't feel comfortable doing; think.
Good riddance (Score:2)
I wonder if this has anything to do with the criminality being exposed in the U.S. government... ;)
So close... (Score:2)
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has resigned her post.
All right!
Napolitano will be taking over the presidency of the University of California's 10-campus education system.
Crap. Hopefully she doesn't damage our university system too much before my daughters are old enough to attend...
In other news... (Score:2)
Students entering and exiting UC dorms will now be required to submit to a cavity search.
Ding, dong... (Score:2)
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What makes you think the republicans want to kill DHS? For some reason, "conservative" too often means desiring to blow everybody else up in the name of security/freedom/whatever, foreign or domestic. There are too many terrorized politicians and predatory opportunists on both sides of the entrenchments.