We are now in the second day of Government Shutdown which is causing many problems. I hadn’t even thought of the security issue. The easy assumption (that I, and probably many Americans, make) is that since essential personnel are still on the job, security is taken care of. But that is true only to a certain point.
“As each day goes by, the impact and the jeopardy to the safety and security of this country will increase,” Clapper testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee…
The quote is from a Washington Post article. Read Shutdown makes U.S. more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, Intelligence officials warn By Greg Miller in the October 2 Washington Post if you want the whole story.
Time to end this stand-off.
My question to Clapper…why? Why specifically will security in the US deteriorate over time because of the shutdown? Is it because the same people who shut down the tours to the WH deem it so? Is it to “scare” the people? Is no one in charge? If this is the case, who is working feverishly behind the scenes to make sure it doesn’t happen? Didn’t Obama (and Bush) both say their top responsibility was to “protect the American people”? How can Obama “let security lapse”? Or, like most everything else, is it a partisan issue??
Just wondering?…Bill
Good point Bill. I don’t know if it is possible to give reasons specifically but if 70% of the civilian workforce is furloughed, it makes sense that the mission would be compromised to some extent since the critical folks may not have the support they need.
Maybe the criteria for nonessential is incorrect. I’m not sure if that is law or executive decision. But it should be fixed if the criteria are too rigid. Also there is a matter of timing. Maybe a job is nonessential if it is not done for a day or 2 but what happens if it is a few weeks?
When the problem is no or inadequate budget, I would rather go with dropping White House tours or closing museums and parks than not doing many of the other government functions.
I think well over half the employees are considered essential (although that varies greatly by agency) so maybe this whole issue of essential/nonessential needs to be rethought.
Jack