Clarke book cites management, info-sharing problems at DHS

Computerworld - The Bush administration's homeland security strategy, including its new emphasis on cybersecurity, is poorly managed and being held hostage to decades-old cultural and turf battles, according to a new book out this week by former White House adviser Richard Clarke.
Clarke's book, Against All Enemies, hit stores yesterday and caused an immediate uproar in Washington. In it, Clarke accuses the Bush administration of politicizing the war on terror and forcing a virtual army of professional staffers to pull recalcitrant senior officials to the realization that national threats had changed and required new defenses.
Clarke ended a 30-year career in government last March as chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and the de facto cybersecurity czar.
In 291 pages that describe detailed conversations and meetings with the president and many of his key cabinet members, Clarke paints a portrait of an administration so sidetracked by the idea of deposing Saddam Hussein that many officials charged with setting up the new Department of Homeland Security and improving information sharing across agencies quit in frustration.
Even on Sept. 11, 2001, the ability of Clarke and other members of the president's senior White House staff to communicate and direct a response to the terrorist attacks was severely hampered by poor communications, according to Clarke.
"The comms in this place are terrible," said Vice President Dick Cheney, according to Clarke. He was referring to the East Wing bomb shelter in the White House.
"Now you know why I wanted the money for a new bunker," replied Clarke.
"I could not resist," he wrote later. "The President had canceled my plans for a replacement facility."

Former White House adviser Richard Clarke