Riotous Hiring and Firing, Disarray and Dumping Inspectors General
An inspector general (plural inspectors general) is an investigative
official in a civil or military organization. In the United States, there are inspectors
general at the federal, state, and local levels. Various agencies have
inspectors general.
These officials lead organizations charged with examining the actions
of a government agencies, military organizations, or military contractors as a
general auditor of their operations
…to ensure they are
operating in compliance with generally established policies of the government,
…to audit the
effectiveness of security procedures, or
…to discover the
possibility of misconduct, waste, fraud, theft, or certain types of criminal
activity by individuals or groups related to [agencies’ operations], usually
involving some misuse of [organizations’] funds or credit.
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rump Co dismissals, resignations April, May 2020
Inspectors General among them
April 2020
Inspector General
of the Intelligence Community, Michael Atkinson
April 7, 2020
Department of
Defense Inspector General Glenn Fine
Expected departure: late 2020
HHS Inspector
General
Christi A. Grimm
[Trump criticized Grimm for a
report on the coronavirus pandemic]
May 15, 2020
State Department
Inspector General
Steve Linick
[Fired after opening an investigation
into Secretary Mike Pompeo’s alleged misuse of a political appointee to do
tasks for him and Mrs. Pompeo. The president claimed he had lost confidence
in Linick]
Others in April and May
April 2020
Chief of Staff to the First Lady, Lindsay Reynolds
April 7, 2020
White House Director of Communications, Stephanie Grisham
April 7, 2020
Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly [Resigned
after the controversial removal of USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain Brett
Crozier]
April 22, 2020
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
Director of the Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority [amidst coronavirus pandemic] Rick Bright
May 8, 2020
Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,
Deirdre Walsh
May 24, 2020
Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council,
Joe Grogan
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nder the Trump regime, there has been an acutely accelerated
disestablishment of the people’s government, and particularly the civil service.
The civil service acts or should act on behalf of the people, the common defense
and general welfare, of the United States of America.
The mission of the civil service is not to act on behalf of private profiteers
or private enterprise.
However, Donald John Trump, standing at the pinnacle of power, pimp and
pinup for private profit, pushes a cynical, PR-made MAGA mantra masking his true
“mega” allegiance to super big business, bucks, and billionaire buddies—all the
while driving the US descent into disorder, destabilization, disability, dishonor,
and destruction.
In January 2020, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas at Brookings wrote on Trump’s destruction
of the nation’s National Security Council, and the consequences. Combinations
of “high turnover, major staff cuts, and new leadership have … crippled the
role of the NSC.” Pointing particularly to
the Trump-ordered killing Iranian General Qasim Soleimani, she wrote
“The inability to
coordinate a consistent message, let alone a single message, for why the US
ordered the death [of Soleimani] demonstrates the absence of staff influential
enough to have prepared for the aftermath of such a momentous and consequential
action.
Working at such a
disadvantage alongside an impulsive president who consistently shows disdain
for expertise, collaboration and debate poses a risk to the country at large,” i.e., the United States of America, its
people, its global standing, and its foreign relations.
The “extraordinary rate of high-level turnover concomitantly causes a
cascade of departures,” she wrote. One National Security Advisor’s departure causes
more NSC departures, more disarray and reticent or scared work performance, rising
levels of anxiety and lowering levels of expertise. New NSAs bring new staff, “hand-picked
associates,” bringing new structuring and more disorder, and all round dysfunction.
- In March 2020, the Guardian wrote, “By our count, Trump has overseen 54 high-profile departures in a blizzard of indecision and turmoil that would be hard for even the sharpest White House-watcher to recall.”
- In April, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas reported “Just 32 months into the Trump administration, the rate of turnover had exceeded his five predecessors’ full first terms.”
“At the same time, Cabinet turnover was also breaking new records and
the number of vacancies across Senate-confirmed positions in the nation’s
federal departments was sky high.
“Not only had the Trump administration not nominated candidates for
many of these positions, but some who had been confirmed were departing at the
start of year two.”
- In May 2020, a Brookings Institution report said, as of May 15, 2020, “President Trump’s ‘A Team’ turnover [was] 86 percent.
Ø 56/65
(86 percent) ‘A Team’ positions [had] turned over
Ø As
of May 15, 38 percent of President Trump’s ‘A Team’ departures [had] undergone
serial turnover”
Brookings explains “A team” [using National
Journal sources] as personnel “deemed most influential or key ‘Decision
Makers’ in a new administration.”
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hose who take to social media and broadcasting outlets and rant day in
and day out against “bureaucrats” and “unelected so and so(s)” had better understand
(a) that government (public service) has a distinct purpose for the people of
the United States; and (b) that same government, with its inspector general
offices, has built-in protections against itself, so to speak—against personnel
who would abuse any office of government.
For his own personal purposes, Donald Trump is destroying those
protections. The Trump presidency offers to the world a reality TV buffoon, an arrogant
know-nothing with a persecution complex, a paranoiac chronically engaged in nepotism,
cronyism and criminal abuse of public office. His antics are throwing essential
institutions to the wind—recklessly disestablishing Americans’ public service,
and setting an outrageous and untenable precedent for future US government administrations.
Sources
Wikipedia
“Inspector General” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_general
“List of Trump Administration Dismissals and Resignations” (latest
update May 16, 2020) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Trump_administration_dismissals_and_resignations
“National Security Council” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Council
Morris, Sam and Francisco Navas “The firings and fury: The biggest
Trump resignations and firings so far” The Guardian March 25, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2018/jul/05/donald-trump-firings-resignations-white-house-full-list-latest
Brookings REPORT “Tracking
turnover in the Trump administration”
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas May 2020 https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is described as a Governance Studies nonresident
Senior Fellow.
Tenpas, Kathryn Dunn “And then there were ten: With 85% turnover across
President Trump’s A Team, who remains?” April 13, 2020 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/13/and-then-there-were-ten-with-85-turnover-across-president-trumps-a-team-who-remains/
Tenpas, Kathryn Dunn “Crippling the capacity of the National Security
Council” January 21, 2020 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/01/21/crippling-the-capacity-of-the-national-security-council/
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