Obama Puts New CIO Vivek Kundra On Suspension

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-puts-new-cio-vivek-kundra-on-suspension-2009-3

by madh • 17 years ago

29 11 17 years ago

TomOfTTB• 17 years ago

When the raid story first broke here I wrote this comment in that thread...

"More to the point, the Obama administration could have the worst vetting team in the world and they'd still be smart enough to ask the FBI if they had any active investigations on the appointee. It's too rudimentary a step to skip."

I'm still sure the vetting team checked specifically into Mr. Kundra but I have to admit this makes them look a tad incompetent. They may not be the worst vetting team but the fact that the President seemingly didn't know this was coming does not reflect well on them or the Administration.

(In my original comment I assumed the vetting team knew this raid was comming but disregarded it because there were no direct ties to Kundra)

icey• 17 years ago

It does appear that he may have one of the worst vetting teams around; their capability for failure has been shocking.

peregrine• 17 years ago

I would argue that the vetting team should have discovered this right away. But it was responsible of him to suspend him and reevaluate his decisions. There is also the possibility that this was simply a political attack to discredit the Obama administration. God knows politics are a messy messy game.

rbanffy• 17 years ago

Can the vetting team ask the FBI for information on an active investigation on one of its job candidates? The FBI should never answer such a question and the mere idea they ever could is a bad sign the Bush administration did some very serious institutional damage.

DanielBMarkham2• 17 years ago

Last I checked, the FBI was part of the Executive Branch and answered completely to the president.

There's no special agency that doesn't answer to anybody. As president, Obama is also responsible for enforcing laws. He has every right as part of the vetting process to give law enforcement agencies veto ability (or not).

There are some special rules for the Office of Public Accountability, but they're for investigating officials already in power. Even then, I don't think you get around the Executive Branch running the FBI. The president, as chief law enforcement officer, can muck around in any ongoing investigation he deems he should.

enzoenoch• 17 years ago

Isn't it logical that the administration with the highest ethical standards in history has the most problems vetting?

jacoblyles• 17 years ago

"They may not be the worst vetting team"

No, I think it is pretty clear they are. He's already tried to appoint about 5 tax cheats, most of whom were shot down because of that (I think Gheitner had some tax problems but was still confirmed).

This has to be one of the most amusing cabinet appointment periods in history. I forget how many train wrecks it took, but eventually I started laughing out loud over the new ones.

timf• 17 years ago

"placed on leave out of 'an abundance of caution'"

The headline seems misleading since "suspension" implies a punitive action.

njharman• 17 years ago

It seems impossibly hard to find "clean" upper level government employees in Washington. This should really be more of a concern talking point with us citizens.

Obama Puts New CIO Vivek Kundra On Suspension

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