Brian Doyle And DHS - It's Worse Than It Sounds

CQ has posted on the DHS Deputy Press Secretary, Brian Doyle, arrested for his on line antics as regards a minor.

In this case, Doyle's extracurricular activities escaped everyone's attention, including (one supposes) the FBI and its pre-hire background check. It still reflects badly on the White House and the DHS, which is why political appointees such as Doyle are supposed to get a thorough vetting not just for security risks but also for the potential to embarrass the administration they serve.

In my opinion, the embarrassment factor isn't the worst case scenario here. This is a security issue. Anyone with Doyle's problem working for Homeland Security and presumably in a position to know sensitive, if not highly classified information, is a significant security threat. They would be wide open to extortion.

Back in the days of the Cold War, it was a common technique to discover such vulnerabilities of someone, then turn the threat of exposure against them as leverage for information.

This is a bigger blow to the White House than first appears and some might begin speculating it's time for Chertoff to go. Don't forget:

Congressional investigators testing U.S. port security smuggled enough radioactive material into the United States last year to make two radiological "dirty" bombs, officials told a Senate panel yesterday.

Rightly or wrongly, I know locally, some New York Dems are starting to push on port security really hard in a manner that makes Chertoff look bad. And it's fair to say his tenure hasn't been without incident. Couple that with the Dems need to come at republicans on Homeland Security as a means of gaining more cred in that area and you have the makings of a bit of a storm, one without a secure port to slip into to.

Comments

[Kelly3]

I love GW but his adminstration has got some guy stealing from Target and another picking up 14 year old girls on the internet. Who is checking these creeps???? I hope not the same people checking to see who comes into our country. If I were the President I would be PISSED.

[jkatl]

Radioactive material was also recently brought through SW border checkpoints in a test. I also think ex FEMA Dir Mike Brown got much more blame than he deserved for Katrina, some of that blame belongs to Chertoff. Brownie screamed Fema was broken over a year before Katrina, and it fell on deaf ears as Chertoff was solely focused on Terror.

[Sgt. York]

Guys from "Homeland Security" hanging around Elementary school... pervs checking out the children?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wjxt/20060406/lo_wjxt/3379371

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