Those still pushing for the expansive powers that the naming of a Cabinet-level director of national intelligence would bring would do well to review what's been going on over at the Department of Homeland Security.
It's not a pretty sight in some of the gargantuan agency's corners. But it is a pretty good example of the failures of a centralized command and control structure. Things appear to be particularly bad at U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. And many of the complaints are coming from higher-up supervisors.
As reported by The Washington Times, gathering and sharing intelligence is abysmal. Investigations can't get out of the starting blocks. The overall mission is poorly defined. And morale is low.
Agency supervisors and agents "say they are worried about ... management decisions that have muddled long-standing chains of command (and) the assignment of patrol agents and inspectors to one agency and investigators to another," among other things, The Times reports.
There have been problems with the agencies' consolidation and subsumption by Homeland Security, says Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson. But "great strides" have been made, he insists.
As much as we respect the former U.S. congressman from Arkansas, "great strides" within such a monster agency is akin to trying to shoot down an enemy fighter jet with a Red Ryder BB gun. History shows the folly and failure -- in government as well as in economics -- of central plans.
Why is this such a difficult lesson to learn?
