Explosives workers not checked - who is at fault
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From USA Today, via Yahoo! portal.
Explosives workers not checked
Tue Apr 5, 8:29 AM ET
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Hundreds of people who applied for federal permits to handle explosives during the past two years were allowed to work with such materials despite evidence of criminal records or other conduct that could have disqualified them from such permits, the Justice Department said Monday.
The problem, according to a review by Glenn Fine, the department's inspector general, is that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been plagued by delays in completing background checks for thousands of workers in mining, construction, demolition and other industries that use explosives.
Some background checks have been pending for nearly a year, the review said. Meanwhile, applicants for permits often have been allowed to work with explosives while their requests for permits are pending, the review said.
... more at linked article
Lets see if I can set an example here.
The news in this report is absolute travesty. Much like the lax application of gun control laws, and other areas where background checks should help to avoid problems, and instead the checks are left uncompleted for months, if not years on end, we have hard evidence that our systems are not working.
Now, unlike some on these blogs and forums, I am not going to drop the blame for this on any one individual, you see, I know this problem is systemic. It's not the fault of President Bush, or Alberto Gonzales (or John Ashcroft before him) or other cabinet level individuals. It's a problem within the entire system. This problem has existed for years, and may exist for years into the future. It's existed under Democratic Presidents, and under Republicans. It's part of a larger problem of over-worked and under-paid (in some ways) and over-paid and under-worked (in others) white collar workers using broken IT (Information Technology / Computer) systems to perform checks of records that may not haven been properly enterred, may be kept in some manual access only method, or may have been accidentally lost, misplaced, or otherwise ignored.
It should not take 18 months or more to do a background check on an individual. Most private industries would complete such checks in hours in some cases, and a few days in others. Why our government can't do the same is beyond me. Perhaps it's an abudance of red tape, privacy laws, over-lapping regulations that cause confusion or other problems.
Either way, it's a problem that should be addressed, and which, honestly I would hope some of the leaders at the Justice Department/ATF would take by the horns and work towards resolving. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's a problem that should merit a bullet item on a daily agenda for President Bush to discuss and demand some action on, and perhaps later it should show up again to discuss some progress on. Regardless, it is an issue demanding attention, and it should receive just that.
Explosives workers not checked
Tue Apr 5, 8:29 AM ET
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Hundreds of people who applied for federal permits to handle explosives during the past two years were allowed to work with such materials despite evidence of criminal records or other conduct that could have disqualified them from such permits, the Justice Department said Monday.
The problem, according to a review by Glenn Fine, the department's inspector general, is that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been plagued by delays in completing background checks for thousands of workers in mining, construction, demolition and other industries that use explosives.
Some background checks have been pending for nearly a year, the review said. Meanwhile, applicants for permits often have been allowed to work with explosives while their requests for permits are pending, the review said.
... more at linked article
Lets see if I can set an example here.
The news in this report is absolute travesty. Much like the lax application of gun control laws, and other areas where background checks should help to avoid problems, and instead the checks are left uncompleted for months, if not years on end, we have hard evidence that our systems are not working.
Now, unlike some on these blogs and forums, I am not going to drop the blame for this on any one individual, you see, I know this problem is systemic. It's not the fault of President Bush, or Alberto Gonzales (or John Ashcroft before him) or other cabinet level individuals. It's a problem within the entire system. This problem has existed for years, and may exist for years into the future. It's existed under Democratic Presidents, and under Republicans. It's part of a larger problem of over-worked and under-paid (in some ways) and over-paid and under-worked (in others) white collar workers using broken IT (Information Technology / Computer) systems to perform checks of records that may not haven been properly enterred, may be kept in some manual access only method, or may have been accidentally lost, misplaced, or otherwise ignored.
It should not take 18 months or more to do a background check on an individual. Most private industries would complete such checks in hours in some cases, and a few days in others. Why our government can't do the same is beyond me. Perhaps it's an abudance of red tape, privacy laws, over-lapping regulations that cause confusion or other problems.
Either way, it's a problem that should be addressed, and which, honestly I would hope some of the leaders at the Justice Department/ATF would take by the horns and work towards resolving. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's a problem that should merit a bullet item on a daily agenda for President Bush to discuss and demand some action on, and perhaps later it should show up again to discuss some progress on. Regardless, it is an issue demanding attention, and it should receive just that.
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