Rich Cooper, Security Debrief

Washington
,
Feb 25, 2009
 –
There is always a danger when you post something to the web.  Sometimes you can say something profound or say something really stupid.

Sometimes you give facts only to have those same facts change on you and then find out you were wrong the first time.  As confusing as that sounds, this is one of those times.

Last Thursday (Feb 12) I posted a listing of all the Christmas “gifts” that DHS was getting out of the newly enacted multi-billion dollar ‘gotta spend it now’ Stimulus package.  Needless to say that listing of items is no longer accurate and I want to go on record and say I was wrong.  (Oh how my wife, parents, business partners, former co-workers and others have wanted to see those words in print!)

When I got the information that I had posted last week, I had checked it against the final version of Stimulus Bill that I had received earlier that day, but in an age of even more updated information, I discovered that I did not have the latest version of the compromised bill signed by the President last week.  Instead I had the previous version and the details on DHS that I posted were out of date. In fact some of the posted items that I shared were no longer in the final signed bill.

The word “whoops”’ comes to mind in this situation and to regular Security Debrief readers and most especially to my fellow bloggers at Tickle the Wire and the Unofficial Coast Guard Blog who kindly reposted some of my original post on this subject I offer my heartfelt apologies.  My error was unintentional.  I used what information I had and tried to verify it as best as I could but when you make an error it’s always best to fess up to it.  I goofed.

That being said and with my mea culpas still in the air, I do have updated information on what DHS got out of the Stimulus Package.  These details come courtesy from DHS’ CFO shop so if I get this one wrong, I’m taking them with me!

Check out the details and the memo from Acting Chief Financial Officer, Peggy Sherry, on what they got and it’s still accurate to say that Santa was still good to them…

This piece was originally posted on Security Debrief.