WTH is he doing??? ~ ~ emphasis/bolding below is mine ~ Sooz

As Trump’s purge continues, the Secret Service chief is out, too
04/08/19 02:31 PM—Updated 04/08/19 02:37 PM
By Steve Benen

It was two years ago this month when Donald Trump appointed Randolph “Tex” Alles to be the new director of the U.S. Secret Service – the first Secret Service chief in a century to lead the department without ever having been part of it.

Now, as the president shakes up his domestic-security team, Alles is out, too.


According to CNN’s report, Trump – who loves to fire people, so long as he’s not the one doing the firing – “instructed” acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Alles.

Like Kirstjen Nielsen, Alles was reportedly elevated to this post at the encouragement of John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff. With Kelly out, the Secret Service chief apparently lacked the allies he needed to remain at his post.

But it’s the larger context that’s probably the most jarring. In the coming days, we’ll see a Department of Homeland Security without a Senate-confirmed secretary. According to the DHS leadership page, there will also be no Senate-confirmed deputy secretary, no Senate-confirmed Secret Service director, no Senate-confirmed FEMA chief, no Senate-confirmed head of ICE, and no Senate-confirmed DHS inspector general.

Once Kevin McAleenan, the current Customs and Border Protection commissioner, starts filling in for Nielsen as the acting DHS chief, his office won’t have a Senate-confirmed commissioner, either.

All of this, of course, comes against a backdrop in which Donald Trump insists there’s a national emergency and ongoing security crisis at the nation’s southern border.

Postscript: It’s too soon to say with confidence how rank-and-file Secret Service agents and other officials will respond to the president ousting their current chief, but it’s worth noting for context that the relationship between Team Trump and the Secret Service hasn’t always been smooth.

Update: According to a White House statement this afternoon, Trump has selected James Murray, a career Secret Service member, to take over as director beginning next month.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-purge-continues-the-secret-service-chief-out-too

Keep rotating "interims" and he doesn't need no stinkin' Senate.

I'm reserving comment until I can think of words to use that have more than 4 letters ~ ~ Sooz

Homeland Security loses another top official as Trump’s purge continues
04/10/19 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen

[Video, The Rachel Maddow Show, 4/9/19, 9:57 PM ET, "Fired DHS secretary tweets firing of acting deputy DHS secretary", accessible via the end link.]

It’s been a rough a week at the Department of Homeland Security. Last Friday, Donald Trump dumped his acting ICE chief without any real explanation, stunning the cabinet agency, only to make matters even more serious two days later by ousting the Homeland Security secretary. Not quite 24 hours later, the president fired the head of the U.S. Secret Service, too.

Soon after, Politico reported that congressional Republicans were “alarmed” and “blindsided” by the DHS purge and had begun urging Trump not to fire anyone else. A day later, the cabinet agency parted ways with its deputy secretary.


It appears in this instance that Grady’s ouster had very little to do with her service. Rather, she was the victim of a bureaucratic game of chairs.

After Trump forced out DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the president decided he wanted Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, to succeed her, at least temporarily. The trouble is, that wasn’t exactly legal: there’s a line of succession at Homeland Security, and in the wake of Nielsen’s forced resignation, Claire Grady was supposed to become the acting head of the agency.

Since Trump preferred someone else, Grady, despite decades of experience as a career official, had to go, too.

So, is the Homeland Security drama over? Not just yet.

Lee Francis Cissna, the head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, is also rumored to be on the chopping block, though NBC News reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is trying to prevent Cissna’s firing.

Either way, as thing stand, the Department of Homeland Security has no Senate-confirmed secretary, no Senate-confirmed deputy secretary, no Senate-confirmed Secret Service director, no Senate-confirmed FEMA chief, no Senate-confirmed head of ICE, and no Senate-confirmed DHS inspector general.

As Kevin McAleenan, the current Customs and Border Protection commissioner, settles in as the acting DHS chief, his office won’t have a Senate-confirmed commissioner, either.

And, of course, we can’t say with confidence who else may also be forced from their posts.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/homeland-security-loses-another-top-official-trumps-purge-continues

One of the very few things the DiC "excels" at is total incompetency ~ ~ Sooz

Trump government in chaotic mess because of administration’s revolving door vacancies
Travis Gettys / 15 May 2019 at 08:16 ET

The federal government is dealing with “unprecedented” vacancies in the Trump administration, and many jobs still have no nominees.

The top jobs at the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives remain unfilled, and there are no nominees for 132 positions and 138 nominees are awaiting Senate confirmation, reported NBC News.

“What we have seen is unprecedented, with consistent vacancies across the government,” said Max Stier, head of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which tracks presidential appointments.

Constant turnover opens up many jobs, and the slow nomination pace keeps them open.

“There’s still an element of musical chairs — filling one job and creating a vacancy somewhere else,” Steir said. “(That causes) cascading effects. Somebody leaves, others follow. You’re creating disruptions throughout the whole organization.”

Trump’s nominees are averaging a record show 105 days between nomination and confirmation, which is 12 days longer than Barack Obama’s nominees and more than double the time for George W. Bush’s.

President Donald Trump has finally put forward a nominee for secretary of defense by tapping acting secretary Patrick Shanahan five months after James Mattis departed the administration, and he has put forward nominations in the past two weeks to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But the administration still has vacancies in 277 top positions out of just over 700 appointments that require Senate confirmation.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/trump-government-in-chaotic-mess-because-of-administrations-revolving-door-vacancies/