Rich Cooper, Security Debrief

Washington
,
Feb 11, 2009
 –
Mary McIntire Peters has posted a concise and well-crafted column in the Management Matters section of Government Executive entitled “Walking the Talk,” profiling the experience and understanding that new DHS Sec. Napolitano brings to what has been an ongoing and thoroughly complex problem – America’s borders, the escalating violence coming from Mexico and illegal immigration.  While these issues don’t appear to rise on the ‘Must Do Now’ list at the White House given the continuing economic challenges, the Administration is going to have to deal with them at some point.

Ignoring these issues, or even worse, subjecting them to the demagoguery that so often defines the political debates on these subjects, won’t make the problems any easier to address. However, the White House could not have found a more knowledgeable person to take these issues on than Sec. Napolitano.  I look forward to hearing her vision for addressing these issues in the next couple of months.

This piece was originally posted on Security Debrief.