Homeland Security Spent $430-Million To Tune Its Radios To A New Frequency, And Failed

Mike Masnick — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:43:59 PST

The incompetence of Homeland Security when it comes to actually doing things is well documented -- though, they're often so clueless that they take credit for successfully misleading Congress about their own failings. So I guess it should come as little surprise that a new report shows that DHS spent about $430 million of your taxpayer dollars to get all of its radios to communicate on the same frequency and it doesn't work. At all.

Of 479 radio users the DHS inspector general tested, only one knew how to tune into the common channel, the report stated. Personnel either were unaware the channel existed, could not find it, or switched to an outdated channel inherited from the Treasury Department.

“Personnel do not have interoperable communications that they can rely on during daily operations, planned events and emergencies,” acting IG Charles K. Edwards wrote in the report.

So what was the problem? Apparently no one in top management at DHS ever thought to tell the various departments that they should be using this common channel that they were spending so much money on getting ready for this usage:

The root of the disconnect, according to the report, is top department leaders have provided little guidance and no enforcement to ensure personnel use the channel. The shift to a single frequency began when the department formed in 2003.

“Components independently developed and managed their own radio programs with no formal coordination from DHS,” and as a result, “internal interoperability was not a priority for DHS components,” Edwards reported.

The report suggested that there should be someone in charge of actually coordinating all of this (what an idea!), but DHS officials shot back that they already have a "Joint Wireless Program Management Office." Of course, this only makes the situation worse, in that they basically admit that they have an entire office set up to work on this issue... and it's now apparent that the office did little to nothing in terms of actually accomplishing what needed to be accomplished. The author of the report pointed out that it's a bit silly to point to the office that failed to do its job as proof that they're now ready to deal with this issue.

So, in a normal business, when you screw something up this badly, people get fired. Lots of them. Who's getting fired for this? Shouldn't the head of DHS have to answer to the public as to why $430 million was spent under what appears to be totally incompetent management? What are they doing over there other than seizing domains and making up terrorist plots?

In the meantime, can we get our $430 million back?

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Musical Chairs At The Major Record Labels

Mike Masnick — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:02:24 PST

The one thing that the major record labels could really use at this point is an injection of new blood from folks who actually understand technology and where the market is headed. There are a few such folks out there, but they seem few and far between. Instead, it appears that the major labels are simply playing musical chairs at the top. Hypebot has this rather ridiculous report of some ongoing shifts among major label management:

At the same time, Doug Morris, out as Universal Music's CEO, but still its figurehead chairman until the end of 2011, is negotiating an early release so that he can run Sony when CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz's tenure ends in April. Along with Morris some of his top lieutenants could reportedly jump ship as well.

If that weren't change enough, Barry Weiss, recent chief of Sony’s RCA/Jive, is talking to Universal Music where he would oversee Universal Motown Republic Group and Island Def Jam. Who is being tapped to replace Weiss at Sony? Strong rumors have the job going to Tom Whalley, who was recently forced out at Warners.

Doug Morris, of course, is the guy who publicly announced to the world that he was too clueless to understand modern technology or business models. Actually, he admitted he was so clueless he didn't even know enough to hire people who could help him. And he still kept his job after that. I still can't quite fathom how any board of directors allows such a CEO to remain in place. And I'm curious as to what Sony is thinking in now hiring someone who has publicly said that he's completely unprepared to deal with the modern challenges of the market. But, of course, since all of these execs are simply swapping seats, it's just an insider's club where they pat each other on the back as the companies they lead continue to fail to adapt.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Techdirt. Stories filed under "management"

Homeland Security Spent $430-Million To Tune Its Radios To A New Frequency, And Failed

Musical Chairs At The Major Record Labels