Homeland Insecurity
Steve McCraw, the director of the governor's Homeland Security office, is overseeing a huge new database that will attempt to link everything from traffic stops to voting records in hopes of linking the mundane and strange to figure out who might be involved in terrorist activity. Most public records, along with criminal histories, will be thrown into the database stew.
We can all hope the terrorists are lead foots.
Nevertheless, a lot of folks are wondering why such an overt law enforcement activity should be lodged in the overtly political office of the governor. Why not DPS? Although McCraw is a former FBI agent and DPS officer, he isn't one now, and he works solely for Gov. Rick Perry.
Well, apparently McCraw doesn't think this is a legitimate question that should be raised. And so he used the governor's letterhead to fire off a three-page letter questioning at least one lawmaker's commitment to fighting the terrorists.
Who would that be? Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who has served in Afghanistan with the National Guard. He also volunteered when the President called for 6,000 troops along our border with Mexico, and commanded 300 troops along the Laredo border sector.
To Noriega, who has been hailed as a patriot and a hero by many of his colleagues, McCraw wrote: "Since it is your position that our border does not pose a terrorist threat, and because of that position you believe it is unnecessary to expend resources in protecting our border, I will make myself available to you or you staff immediately to provide a detailed briefing on why this mistaken position can cost lives."
Noriega wanted the governor to know that his letterhead was being put to such poor use. "Last Friday, I received a letter from your Director of Homeland Security clearly implying that I favored policies that allowed terrorists free entry through our borders. The accusation is both insulting and irresponsible."
Noriega continued: "I and several other representatives have questioned, as a matter of policy, whether our state would be better served having the Office of Homeland Security in a law enforcement reporting structure, such as DPS or the National Guard. What felt like a personal attack by your staff further reinforces the thinking that an office such as Homeland Security, which is critical to our safety, should be free of political overlay."
Last week, the governor responded. Kinda. He thanked Noriega for his service to state and country, and also praised the sacrifices made by two other House members who have served in the Afghan-Iraq conflicts. For good measure, he threw in his own experience flying for the Air Force 30 years ago.
He didn't say anything about McCraw, but invited Noriega to come by his office if he cared to discuss anything further.
Regardless of how the letter exchange went over in the governor's office, it's clear that it didn't sit well among House members. Even Republican House members who are carrying the bill that gives McCraw so much of what he wants in resources and responsibility.
Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, called McCraw's letter "a huge error."
McCraw has great credentials, Swinford said, but "his people skills may be lacking."
Comments
Swinford's bill wound up paying the price for McCraw's error, didn't it?
McCraw has bad political judgment, not to mention foot-in-mouth disease. He keeps claiming terrorists have entered the country and every time reporters check it out, every other agency involved claims it's not true. Now his big deal is that they've captured people from countries where Al Quaeda operates cells. Of course, those countries include the USA!
He gave all that TDEX data to a private defense contractor and told the State Affairs Committee it had been recovered when it hadn't. Ooops. DPS contradicted him in the same hearing, and they turned out to be right.
Whatever his credentials, McCraw's impulse to attack, his apparent mendacity and his demonstrated poor leadership skills have left him without the credibility to enjoy the vast powers HB 13 would have given him. In that sense, it's a mitzvah that he blew himself up right before the vote on his big bill.
Posted by: Gritsforbreakfast | May 4, 2007 7:38 AM