Brain drain hits Homeland Security

The USA Today reports:

The Homeland Security Department is losing top managers and rank-and-file employees in a brain drain that could affect morale and the nation's safety, according to members of Congress and labor experts.

Homeland Security is “hemorrhaging on the front lines and higher up,” says New York University professor Paul Light, an expert on the federal workforce. The turnover comes amid renewed threats of terrorism and as the department readies itself for another hurricane season.

Key vacancies include top leaders in the department's cybersecurity, technology and disaster response divisions.

The latest high-level departure came last week, when management chief Janet Hale announced she was leaving. She joined an exodus of top officials who have quit recently, many in the aftermath of Homeland Security's failures surrounding Hurricane Katrina last fall.

How did we get by without the Department of Homeland Security all these years? The same way we got by without the Department of Education for most of this country's history.