DHS Employee Says Department Will Defy Noem

We have all been there, especially if we have had kids in the home. There is the sink so hopelessly clogged that the mess cannot be fished out, and the p trap has to be dismantled to remove the built-up sludge. Or there is the toilet that has become backed up to the point that you are afraid to even go near the handle for fear or creating a toxic eruption that would defy Vesuvius and permanently befoul the air. So you use the plunger as firmly as you dare to prevent an overflow before finally getting the snake to dislodge whatever has taken up residence in the works. In any event, you dare not look at it, for its countenance is terrible to behold. May God have mercy on your soul if you actually have to start taking the toilet apart.

Yeah, that’s what draining the swamp is going to look like this time around.

Sure, Trump is off to a roaring start, and he definitely scored a direct hit with USAID. But, the clog of the federal government is not just noxious but deep. Some might even call it impacted. 

One of James O’Keefe’s undercover journalists sat down with Brandon Wright. Wright is a platform services manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s information network. At least he was, as of this writing. “Former” may be apropos since Wright is about to be not so cordially invited to ply his trade elsewhere, if he has not already. Wright told the O’Keefe Media Group reporter that not only does he hate DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, but he does not feel any compulsion to follow her directives if he does not want to.

The O’Keefe Media Group reached out to DHS for comment. The department said:

Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation… The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent.

Note that Wright does not state that he and his cohorts would openly defy Noem’s directives. Rather, the modus operandi would be, and apparently has been, to massage, manipulate, and “interpret” those directives or policies in ways that the employees would see fit. 

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The septic tank analogy Wright uses is particularly apt. This attitude and the employees that adhere to it because of idealogy or plain self-interest is one of the biggest reasons why the government no longer serves the taxpayers’ interests as it should. There is a level of hubris on display during this conversation that should infuriate the average citizen.  

Most people think the Deep State is a shadowy cabal of people gathered in some meeting room or star chamber. And I’m not saying that does not exist, but this is the face of the Deep State: agendized, privileged career employees. Wright may hate all conservatives and, by extension, Noem on spec. He may honestly contend that an open borders policy is a net positive for the nation. He may think that as things stand now, the country is perfectly safe from foreign actors and that the only threat comes from the white supremacists about which we were continuously warned during the last administration. Or he may just be following Lincoln’s Rule of Bureaucracy: The first priority in a cushy government job is to figure out how to keep your cushy government job. 

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