On Monday, Kimberly Cheatle, the now-former Director of the U.S. Secret Service, “testified” (I use the term loosely) publicly before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Unsurprisingly (to me, at least), the lengthy session produced not a shred of evidence not previously known to the public. The only surprise at the end of the day was that some members of the committee actually appear to have expected otherwise.
At least some members of the Committee on both sides of the aisle seem to be unfamiliar with one of the foundational principles on which governments (including our own) operate: bureaucracies are designed and operate in such a way as to avoid accountability.
This is hardly breaking news. The National Academy of Public Service has published extensively about the “culture of unaccountability that hampers the government’s operations.” Congress has considered “reviving” the Constitution’s Appointments Clause to force presidential appointments to be more accountable. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has tightened – not relaxed — standing requirements that must be met in order to hold government officials accountable by court action.
I learned this lesson in unaccountability in 1995, during my first term in the House. Nothing I have seen since has changed my opinion about government aversion to accountability.
The context in which the immutability of government un-accountability came clear to me was the series of hearings in which I participated in Spring 1995 to investigate the tragedy two years prior at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas; a tragedy of horrendous proportions during which four federal law enforcement officers and more than 70 civilian men, women, children, and babies perished in a completely avoidable fiery conflagration at the end of the nearly two-month long stand-off.
The Waco Tragedy occurred during the administration of Democrat President Bill Clinton, with Attorney General Janet Reno in charge of the Department of Justice. In an effort to learn why and how such a tragedy happened – and to try and assign a degree of accountability to those responsible – newly elected Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich directed that the House conduct a serious inquiry; which we did.
The hearings consumed many days, during which we questioned dozens of witnesses from several federal law enforcement agencies, the U.S. military, state law enforcement agencies, Branch Davidian survivors, non-governmental organizations, and others. The resulting, lengthy report detailed the many mistakes made by those in charge of the operation, including by the Attorney General herself, and which answered many – but not all – of the questions surrounding the tragedy.
At the end of the day, one fact stuck out like a sore thumb – not a single person at the FBI (which was the lead agency on the ground in Waco) or up the chain of command at the Department of Justice was disciplined (much less fired) for errors in judgment or for what to me were clear violations of federal regulations and law (such as the Posse Comitatus Act). In other words, zero accountability.
If the Attorney General, the director of the FBI, and the several heads of other federal agencies involved in the Branch Davidian operation can escape accountability for needlessly causing the deaths of dozens of men, women, children, and babies, it should surprise no one that the U.S. Secret Service can avoid being held accountable for a single missed sniper attack on one presidential candidate.
Most Americans have no idea of just how many layers of bureaucracy exist in any agency or department of the federal government, with every layer creating one more hurdle to overcome before any meaningful degree of accountability can be found for an unlawful or irresponsible action that results in loss, harm, or even death.
The Secret Service, is a component of the truly massive bureaucracy known as the Department of Homeland Security, currently led by Alejandro “the-border-is-secure” Mayorkas. The organization chart for the Secret Service itself reflects an even more complicated roadmap than that of the FBI, which historically has served as a model for an agency wrapped in unaccountability.
Yes, Kimberly Cheatle did resign Tuesday from her post atop the Secret Service. This is, however, a largely symbolic move and will not by itself solve the myriad problems within the agency she headed. Addressing these systemic problems will require something the Congress historically has not often displayed – a penchant for hard work and a focused effort over many months.
Bob Barr currently serves as President of the National Rifle Association. He represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He served as the United States Attorney in Atlanta from 1986 to 1990 and was an official with the CIA in the 1970s. He now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as head of Liberty Guard.