Thread: Official who caused the crisis set to be promoted

Passport outrage: Official who caused the crisis set to be promoted
by Joel Mowbray

During a contentious Senate hearing last week, State Department consular chief Maura Harty took personal responsibility for the backlog of two million passport applications -- leading to wait times of 12 weeks or more -- that has wreaked havoc on honeymoons, family getaways, and business trips.

She was hailed by many for her contrite performance. Unfortunately, though Harty was apologetic, she was not entirely honest. Not only that, the Senate did not learn the full extent of her personal culpability in creating the passport mess with a series of blunders.

And on the heels of creating a backlog of two million passport applications and then misleading Congress about it, Harty is poised for a promotion. Unless the White House acts to stop it, Harty could soon ascend to one of the top positions at the State Department.


How the crisis really happened

The State Department’s public line is that the new rules requiring passports for most Western Hemisphere air travel caused a surge in applications, and Harty’s office relied on a private consulting firm’s estimate of 16.2 million passport applications this year -- a number that proved too low by roughly 1.5 million.

The reality, however, is that following the private consulting study, provided by BearingPoint, would have lead to slightly overestimating the number of passport seekers.

When questioned at the hearing about how she could have missed the mark so badly, Harty tried to shift the blame, responding, “[W]e predicted 16.2 million based on our study with BearingPoint.â€

Does President Bush want to reward the woman largely responsible for the ravaged plans of millions with a promotion?

Is this some kind of a trick question?

Which means the ball is now in the White House’s court. Does President Bush want to reward the woman largely responsible for the ravaged plans of millions with a promotion?

Of course he does. By promoting those whose actions or inactions exhibit gross incompetence, Bush provides himself cover for his own magnitude of egregious incompetencies.