October 11, 2012
BY JIM KOURI
The Moral Liberal


It appears that whenever there are questions by Congress regarding homeland security, Secretary Napolitano is dispatched overseas, according to critics including her own subordinates.
Credits: DHS


With members of her own department — especially Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — criticizing her and her political appointees, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano decided to hightail it out of the United States with Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate Rand Beers and Assistant Secretary for International Affairs Alan Bersin, according to a federal law enforcement official in Washington, D.C.

A new congressional report denigrates the Department of Homeland Security for not effectively and efficiently using its multi-billion dollar budget to provide actionable intelligence for counterterrorism operations within the U.S., according to former police counterterrorism expert Ronald Secord.

‘It’s practically a given that when things heat up in Washington about terrorism or border security issues, Secretary Napolitano takes it as a cue to ‘get out of Dodge,’ This time she choseBulgaria as her destination” Secord stated.

On Wednesday, the DHS trio met with Bulgaria’s President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia, Bulgaria, to discuss the Obama administration’s collaboration with Bulgarian law enforcement and security agencies on information sharing, law enforcement, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and border security.

Secretary Napolitano also signed an Agreement on Preventing and Combating Serious Crime with Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, as part of an international initiative against transnational organized crime organizations.

“Today’s agreement reaffirms our commitment to working with Bulgaria to combat terrorism and transnational crime,” said Secretary Napolitano. “By enhancing information sharing, it will allow law enforcement officials to more quickly and efficiently investigate crimes and prevent the entry of criminals into our countries.”

According to Napolitano, this latest Agreement provides the basis for the exchange of data between the United States and Bulgaria regarding suspected criminals and terrorists. It will bolstercounterterrorism and law enforcement cooperation efforts, while protecting individual privacy.

During her meetings, Secretary Napolitano encouraged continued progress on rule of law reforms and also highlighted collaboration between the United States and Bulgaria on cybersecurity, and science and technology.

In 2011, DHS participated in the Cyber Atlantic tabletop exercise, a U.S.–EU effort to enhance international collaboration of incident management and response, which is part of the ongoing U.S.–EU partnership to address shared threats to global networks.

While in Bulgaria, Secretary Napolitano, Under Secretary Beers and Assistant Secretary Bersin also met with Bulgarian non-governmental organizations, and visited the Bulgarian National Coordination Center for Border Security and Sofia Airport to survey border management and passport control operations.

Although not part of the Libyan terrorist attack probe by Congress, Secretary Napolitano did blame the uprising on an obscure YouTube video echoing the rest of President Barack Obama’s national security team. In addition, lawmakers are investigating Napolitano’s statistics regarding illegal aliens and deportations.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Christopher Crane, President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, the union representing America’s more than 7,000 ICE agents and personnel, and Border Patrol agent George McCubbin, President of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing America’s more than 17,000 border agents and personnel, both blasted President Barack Obama’s de facto “Dream Act,” and the actions of superiors at their respective agencies.

One Old Vet

Napolitano globe trotting while Congress investigates DHS | The Moral Liberal