DHS Chief Janet Napolitano Resigns

schwit1 writes with news that the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has resigned her post. Napolitano entered the office at the beginning of President Obama's first term, and she was only the third person to hold the position since it was created in response to the September 11th attacks. In a statement, she said the Department of Homeland Security "has improved the safety of travelers; implemented smart steps that make our immigration system more fair and focused while deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders; worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust; and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity." Napolitano will be taking over the presidency of the University of California's 10-campus education system. "UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures — will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas."

Comments

And not much changes...

[robinsonne]

I'd say "good riddance!", but I'm fully confident that the administration will find some crony just as eager to continue our security theater.

I speak for all of us when I say

[Gothmolly]

GFY Janet, you fascist, power-grabbing hooligan.

Re:I speak for all of us when I say

[bjdevil66]

With her resigning her post, this day is a great day for the entire country.

While governor of my home state (Arizona), she was a friend of big government and an enemy of libertarian views. She ran up the Arizona state budget by billions, starting new and costly programs, with no long-term plans on how to pay for them in leaner times. She also pushed hard for planting the roots of a surveillance state, led by state-wide photo radar on state highways.

Then in 2008, seeing the writing on the wall - she was term-limited and couldn't run again, the state's economy/budget was about to tank as the first signs of the housing collapse were appearing - she sucked up HARD to Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail and grabbed the first government post thrown her way as payment.

Many of us here in Arizona cheered when she left, but quietly shuddered when we realized what position she'd taken, knowing her views. IMO, we're lucky we've only had to deal with naked body scanners and that enough people pushed back against her, "to hell with privacy - we need to keep these idiots safe," mentality to keep her in check. Maybe we're also lucky she was generally incompetent and became more of a DC bureaucrat that became too politically paralyzed to push for her grand views of what she would've really wanted to implement?

And you've gotta wonder what changes she could possibly bring to a university system. She was part of a sprawling bureaucracy in DC - I guess the UC system wants a bigger bureaucracy? Maybe they just want to capitalize on her connections in DC to get federal funds (making her a de facto lobbyist)?

On the future DHS replacement - here's to hoping the president doesn't pick another bureaucrat. Maybe the president will live up to some of his campaign promises now on openness in government when picking her successor? Realistically, I'm pretty sure it won't be a Ron Paul type...

Wasted funds on an epic scale

[MetalliQaZ]

"implemented smart steps"

With the huge pile of body scanners sitting unused in warehouses thanks to DHS's wild (and illegal) binge on ineffective and invasive scanning technology, I have a hard time with their using the phrase "smart steps". In fact it's so bad, it almost seems like an inside joke. Not funny. And Janet? You make me sick

tellingly 'relevant' experience

[Trepidity]

"UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures — will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas."

It's a good thing there's no need to have the head of a university system have experience in anything like education or research. All that matters is those security-industry connections!

I've got this one

[grasshoppa]

has improved the safety of travelers;

Prove a negative. Nice.

implemented smart steps that make our immigration system more fair and focused while deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders;

So...nothing. No, wait! Nothing, but we spent "record resources" achieving it.

worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust;

So..nothing again. At least, nothing quantifiable, which is pretty much the same thing.

and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity.

Did...she just list PRISM as an accomplishment on her resume?

Stunning.

Re:I've got this one

[grasshoppa]

There's more than enough blame to go around.

At least Snowden had the integrity and honor to do something about it.

Re:I've got this one

[bhlowe]

Our borders are so secure, we're only going to have to give amnesty to 30 million.

Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her.

[interkin3tic]

Except the beverly hillbillies got rich first then moved to Beverly Hills. In this case, UC is currently paying their president $600K and will probably pay her. Which is odd, because last I heard, the UC system was still cutting scholarships, teachers, and classes due to budget problems.

But I'm sure that money is well spent: I mean, if Napolitano can bring the same magic to the UC system that she did to DHS, then maybe the UC system will be safe from imagingary threats from Al Quaeda. And isn't that more important than students getting an education? We decided it was more important than the constitution, so yes, the answer is yes whether you like it or not.

/s. This is idiotic. Why is a taxpayer supported institution wasting money like she's a CEO?

Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her.

[Trepidity]

Above a certain level, though, you start to pull in the wrong kinds of people. You can definitely get a better professor for $100k than $60k, and probably can get a top one for $200k. But if you're paying an administrator $600k? Now you start pulling in people who don't care about academia, and are just in it for the money. I think it might be better not incentivizing them to jump to academia; academic administration is becoming a revolving door of people from industry and government doing 3-year stints to put on their CV, when it would be better served by people with some kind of actual knowledge about, and commitment to, research and education.

Re:Sounds like an opportunity

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Never happen. Sadly, something like that would be the work of the Obama We Voted For, rather than the Obama We Got.

Re:University of Califonia? Oh, they'll love her.

[anagama]

Yeah, but for the scanners we wasted money on, that was revenue and probably a lot of profit for the manufacturers. You do realize that the entire sole purpose of the Federal government, is to subsidize a select few friendly mega-corps at our expense (monetary expense, freedom expense). Napolitano did that job perfectly.

Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled?

[cayenne8]

I'm curious about what scandal was about to break that involved her...?

Seems to be the going paradigm for those high up in the current administration.

I kinda long for the past days of where it was just the #1 guy getting a hummer outside the Oval office. At least that didn't hurt US citizens' lives.

Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled?

[BubbaDave]

I'm curious about what scandal was about to break that involved her...?

Seems to be the going paradigm for those high up in the current administration.

I kinda long for the past days of where it was just the #1 guy getting a hummer outside the Oval office. At least that didn't hurt US citizens' lives.

No scandal- she probably just won't go as far as our center-right authoritarian overlord wanted her to.

I anticipate we will be stunned by what her replacement is willing to do, stunned even given recent revelations.

Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled?

[BubbaDave]

Bullshit. He is not leftist.

Re:OFFTOPIC: Slashdot Kremlin story just pulled?

[ChrisMaple]

You misspelled Congenital Liar.