Giuliani is Best Choice for Homeland Security Director

Bernard Kerik withdrew his name for consideration from the Homeland Security directorship after he disclosed that a nanny he once employed was in the country illegally and that he didn’t pay taxes on her wages.

I still think Rudy Giuliani would do a fine job there as he has experience in organizing a huge bureaucracy in a major metropolitan city. His book on leadership explains the problems that he faced in New York City and his approach to solving them. I think you need an organizer with proven skills to get the Department of Homeland Security reorganized and running efficiently; after he’s done, you can get the law enforcement experts in there to run the organization.

The problem facing the Homeland Security department is twofold: one part deals with restructuring twenty-plus agencies that used to operate independently and to detail 180,000 people in what they’re supposed to be doing in the new department. The other side is the law-enforcement/counterterrorism execution side. The latter cannot operate nearly as efficiently without the structure there to support it.

Here’s a biography from the New York City government web site as to his qualifications for the directorship:

1961—Graduated from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
1965—Graduated from Manhattan College (Class of '65) in the Bronx
1968—Graduated from New York University Law School in Manhattan, (magna cum laude).
1968—1970--Clerked for Judge Lloyd MacMahon, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
1970—Joined the office of the U.S. Attorney. At age 29, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit and rose to serve as executive US Attorney.
1975—Giuliani was recruited to Washington, D.C., where he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General.
1977—1981 Practiced law at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler.
1981—Named Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the Department of Justice. As AAG, Giuliani supervised all of the US Attorney Offices' Federal law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the US Marshals.
1983—Giuliani was appointed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he spearheaded the effort to jail drug dealers, fight organized crime, break the web of corruption in government, and prosecute white-collar criminals. Few US Attorneys in history can match his record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals.
1989—Giuliani entered the race for mayor of New York City as a candidate of the Republican and Liberal parties, losing by the closest margin in City history.
1993—107th Mayor of the City of New York.
1997—Re-elected by a wide margin, carrying four out of New York City's five boroughs. Credited with turning the city around.
2001—Parts of the city are devastated by the 9/11 terror attacks. Giuliani becomes “America’s Mayor” in the hearts of many Americans who are impressed with his handling of the disaster. Named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year.”

So, barring major problems with the confirmation process (that eliminated his former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, from consideration for Homeland Security director), I think Giuliani would be the best choice that Bush could make. I haven’t given up hope. He would face tough questions from Congress on 9/11 and reports that the police and fire departments didn’t have the equipment they needed, and he may be too political, but I think he could get in there and do some good.