Gene Healy
Reason
March 26, 2014
It’s “a boondoggle of epic proportions,” an exasperated Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson at a recent congressional hearing, “if you’re in the middle of a huge mess, you stop digging.”
The specific object of Hudson’s ire was department’s massive new headquarters complex in southeast Washington, the biggest federal construction project since the Pentagon. As the Washington Times reported Sunday, the project–featuring amenities like eco-friendly “rainwater toilets” and sustainable Brazilian hardwood decking–is running at least a decade late and over a billion dollars short.
But the larger point applies to the department itself and the nebulous, all-encompassing rubric under which it’s organized. “Homeland Security” is a mess; “stop digging.”
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