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Morale at Homeland Security has 'skyrocketed' under Trump
 [Washington Examiner] When the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing in April 2015 titled "The Worst Places to Work in the Federal Government," an agency manager at the Department of Homeland Security was called in to testify."[DHS] rests as the worst place to work among cabinet agencies," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said at the time. The third largest federal department had just received an abysmal 44 percent score in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. Fewer than half of its staff felt that morale, leadership and compensation deserved positive ratings. But those days are gone, according to DHS employees and one senior administration official who spoke to the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity. After President Trump issued his executive order temporarily barring immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, multiple reports suggested that DHS officials, along with staffers at other federal agencies, were not consulted prior to the roll-out and were not pleased with what transpired afterwards. "The policy team at the White House developed the executive order on refugees and visas, and largely avoided the traditional interagency process that would have allowed the Justice Department and homeland security agencies to provide operational guidance," CNN had reported earlier this week. Then came Tuesday's press conference with DHS Secretary John Kelly, a no-nonsense retired Marine Corps general who said the order "wasn't a surprise" and vowed to execute new and existing immigration laws "humanely and with professionalism." Kelly's remarks to reporters, and his willingness to enforce laws that the administration believes will protect Americans, "re-energized a lot of us because for so long we've been vilified for doing our jobs, and here was someone finally standing up for us," said one Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who was not authorized to speak on the record. ICE is one of 22 agencies incorporated into DHS and likely to play a critical role in administering Trump's immigration agenda. Posted by: Besoeker 2017-02-03 |
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