DHS In-Fighting: Ervin Blasts Loy Over Security Comments

Homeland Security Watch notes that former DHS inspector general Clark Kent Ervin criticized former DHS Deputy Secretary Adm. James Loy in a Washington Post editorial last week. However, HSW asserts that Ervin "twists the facts" to create an "egregiously misleading" editorial. For example, Ervin writes:

I served as the inspector general of DHS during Loy’s tenure as a high official there, and I do not recall a single instance of his having said anything like that [that our ports are already dangerously vulnerable]. (emphasis added)

In 10 minutes, HSW found three comments from Loy that suggest Ervin was either suffering from Scotter Libby's memory problems or deliberately attempting to deceive.

The most current, testimony before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in February 2005, has Loy stating (on the record) that:

The threat is as real here... Ports represent that place where it all comes together. Ninety-five percent of what comes and goes to this country comes and goes by the water. So the port complexes are clearly a targeted area for the terrorists.

What we have in the WaPo is straightforward politics-by-character-assassination. (Remember Plame-Wilson?) The entire article is an attack on the credibility of Admiral Loy. It also attacks a program that DHS touted as one of its successes -- implying, after the fact, that Loy must have been engaging in puffery in this 2004 speech to the National Cargo Security Council Annual Convention.

I don't pretend to know if Loy's efforts at securing our ports during his tenure were on the right track. Nor do I know if Loy's characterization of one effort is accurate -- or if Ervin's rebuttal is accurate. That's because Ervin gives us no facts to back up his assertion that the program was "chimerical." (For what it's worth, HSW says "C-TPAT is far from 'chimerical'.")

Background
So who is this hatchet man, carrying water for the (on the defensive) Administration?

Before coming to Washington as a Bush Administration appointee in 2001, Ervin served was the Assistant Secretary of State of Texas and then Director of Administration for John Cornyn (Texas Attorney General and then US Senator). He also worked in the White House during the term of Bush the Elder. Today he is director of the Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Initiative; the Institute was founded in 1950 by Walter Paepeke, chair of the Container Corporation.

Admiral Loy, on the other hand, moved from the Coast Guard (where he retired) to Homeland Security in 2002. Government Executive writes in 2004:

Loy is that rarity in government and in life: a man who is almost universally respected and liked by his supervisors and his subordinates. At his November nomination hearing for deputy secretary, senators joked about dealing with the "complicated problem of having a nominee about whom there is virtually no controversy."

... he retired as a four-star admiral after 38 years with the Coast Guard. He is credited with modernizing and rebuilding the Guard during his tenure. Loy is also praised for his management skills and expertise in maritime transportation security; under his command, the Coast Guard quickly mobilized to close major U.S. ports after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Hmmm. Who do you think man has more credibility talking about maritime security?

It's Up To You
Until rank-and-file citizens rise up and yell "We're not going to take it anymore!" our political discourse will continue to be dominated by more of the same, politics of the smear. I say, "Enough!"

Finally, I firmly believe that the hoopla over the UAE ports deal is a good thing if it results in increased attention on a major area of vulnerability. And I'm thrilled that the Wall Street Journal is finally (almost three weeks after being reported here) accurately reporting the full-scope of P&O's operations in the United States.

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