The fear is real for federal employees who know that even if they survive the scrutiny of an official administrative inquiry, their career is likely irreparably damaged. The unintended consequence of this is a bunker mentality in the federal ranks. If one can simply hide for four years, a new boss will show up and things will get back to normal. The result will be CIA agents who will park their creative thinking and initiatives at the door, FBI agents who will read every terrorist their rights, twice, to be certain - and US Navy Seals who will line up for sensitivity training.
Well, I hope I am wrong about the Navy Seals. They are trained to be insensitive, right?
In previous administrations, with regards to our national security, there was a sense that the spirit of the law controlled, and that the letter of the law would be left to the lawyers. When I served in the first Bush administration, employees knew that “the boss” appreciated aggressive law enforcement and careful attention to national security. The administration reinforced this belief by repeatedly rewarding federal employees for passionate service, not punishing them for their aggressive efforts.
In George H.W. Bush’s administration I never saw, felt, or ever heard of a vindictive intent to punish federal employees in order to make an ideological point, or make a previous administration look bad politically. But I did witness this onerous attitude in Clinton’s White House, with Billy Dale and the Travel Office employees in his first term, and I am sorry to see it reappear in the Obama administration.
When a president is elected he either rises above his own political party to run an effective executive branch and protect our country, or he does not. Woe to the nation when he does not. Those in high government places, who twist the law for political purpose, are at the least corrupted, if not downright evil. And in this most recent intelligence failure, we nearly paid the bill for Obama's political distraction.
Comedian Will Rogers once said, “I'm not trying to be funny, I'm just reporting what your government is doing.”