Don't Get Lost . . . Read the Message

2007-07-10T12:01:00.000-04:00

You got lost in the words if you thought the story of the “Bad ASAC” was an invitation to vent about how poor the overall state of leadership has become within ATF. It wasn't. Calibrate your compass and let's try this again. We know about the bad leadership that has snowballed for years and this is not breaking news. Why do you think DOJ was finally forced into making meaningful change at the top?

Folks, the story here is not that ATF is sinking. It’s that maybe Ron Carter and Michael Sullivan can recover some of the vessels that already went under. We know the system they have inherited is a disaster. We don’t need you to tell us (or them) that. What are YOU going to do to help THEM . . . instead of yourselves?

Let’s be clear here. The "new" ATF currently under the direction of Mike Sullivan and Ron Carter is probably a lot like reading Greek to the "old guard" . . . the ones who [never] made their Bones under Magaw, Buckles and the crowd that just got ousted. Yep, just like reading Greek, Ron and Mike probably make no sense to them. They want to make things right. Ron Carter and Mike Sullivan know the general problems - you know the frustrating specifics about how the symptoms have manifested themselves.

But what about you? If you want change at the top you better be prepared to change at the bottom as well. Accountability is a two way street and true positive change breeds fear because accountability is a two way street and sometimes the hunters become the hunted. If it's wrong call it wrong. If it's not wrong admit that too. Unpopular does not equal wrong.

Have you heard the one about the rookie, "old guard" SAC? You know how it goes. A young SAC walks into a bar, confused by the injection of integrity that Sullivan and Carter are attempting to put into the outfit and starts mumbling to himself. He confides in the bartender “I kiss every Ass I see. I tell everybody what they want to hear. I stand for nothing so I can change position with the wind. I have 100 white shirts. My shoes are shiny and I don't know my ass from a freight train. Check". The plastic young SAC mumbled on . . . "that's everything on the list. So, how come I have been a SAC for 13 months and have not been promoted to Deputy AD yet?" The bartender, a retired ATF agent from back in the day tells the kid . . . with no sympathy in his voice at all . . . ”Relax junior, just get back into your yoga position and say over and over again “You gotta fake it to make it.”

We also know that the, now forlorn, fakers are still hoping for the best. They cling to the belief that some things may still slip through the cracks ignoring competence and integrity. For example the fake and the fabulous are still trying to hearten themselves with the recent list of inductees into the ATF created SES “program”. There are some failed RACs who have never been ASACs, and there are some failed ASACs trying to become failed SACs (some of whom were also failed agents). Yes, it could be construed to contain some names that could also appear on the list of "the Bureau's least impressive". Many months ago when the SES candidates applied for the "current program" the absence of ethics within the old guard had become so pronounced that even those who never sat in an ASAC chair had the nerve to apply. That was funny until you realize that some of them actually made the cut!! What does that ASAC job prepare you for again? Mmm . . . we forget.

Let's now go due north and clear up the SES myth. ANY person may apply for an SES vacancy. NOT just people in a "program" or people who "completed" the "program". In a perfect world any individual qualified for the position can make the cut and be considered - so why the "program"? It was created and has been used as a gatekeeper. That may change. A SAC vacancy tomorrow for an SES position is open to any GS-15 regardless of their involvement with any "program". That's why the "candidates" least qualified may be spending 90% of their time away from their post trying to get their SES Program Merit Badge. There are so many qualified non-program people they might have to compete against they feel their merit badge but give them a leg up.

More SES myth is that SES personnel make more money. The SES SAC positions in ATF are "frozen" at a specific amount. ASACs with seniority in cities with the 25% locality pay make more than their SES bosses. An SES Deputy AD returning to the field, in a non 25% locality pay area, is most likely facing a pay cut. So don't be intimidated by the the SES thing. It's just another "title".

Mike Sullivan and Ron Carter have insisted that future rounds of the SES candidate beauty pageants be done fairly, equally and on a level playing field. This is consistent with their style of fairness and doing what is right. That will send chills down the spines of the children of the old guard.

There is also fear in the hearts of those who already "got theirs" under the old guard. What if their meteoric rise to the top is derailed now by a new system that requires them to first be effective and competent before advancing to the next title and bigger chair? Say it ain't so!! Say it IS so!! Remember the SAC and the bartender? Can you even imagine a world in which WHAT you know matters and WHO you know does not?

But, let's check the compass again, OK? By now do you see that the only "happy" people in ATF are special agents working in the field anyway. So only those movers and shakers that are unhappy really care who gets what job and who is waiting for who to retire so they can try to move up and into their job. Give it a rest. Nobody cares what job you get . . . it's the INTEGRITY (or lack) stupid!! For example, if you get $ you don't deserve because you carried out a fraud, you should spend it wisely. When the money is gone the lack of integrity is not. Don't make frivolous and conspiratorial allegations against people you fear are exposing your fraud or your ineptness, or your inability to actually perform on the high wire and then cry when your bogus claims boomerang on you. If you constantly lie for convenience, or change like a windsock in a hurricane and tell everybody what you think will shut them up, build alliances to undercut the competition, having no actual "moral North" of your own . . . maybe it IS time to lose some sleep.

It's changing even if it is at a almost imperceptible pace. Don't be angry at the appearances that a higher up, oh let's say a Deputy AD, seems to be getting a move they "want". The word on the street is old DAD was told to find someplace to go quietly into the night. Tactically, some may conclude it’s better to destroy one field division with a vacuum of ineptness than impede the progress of multiple divisions. Try to focus on the good created by a change being made and the opening of a chance to right a past wrong. Of course, we concede that the folks in the “one division” might disagree. Maybe they will be given a Hotline to report the same old bad behavior once it starts anew.

Speaking of being angry. Remember the story of the “Bad ASAC”? Well . . . it seems that story struck a few nerves. It’s always interesting when a theory used in speculation, in a satirical blog no less, is actually proven to be true by the actions of the guilty once they read the story. The "not so veiled threats" of civil action for slander and libel aside.

We have been told (and sincerely believe) that after reading about “Bad”, a medicated Deputy AD called an odd G/S in the field to commiserate about the satirical blog (apparently assuming it referred to them). The odd G/S also claims (to more than one person) that their friend the Deputy AD then called and jacked up a weak SAC for not holding the poor, odd G/S close and reading bed time stories. Would this be dysfunctional?

Hey kids . . . don’t you know by freaking out over a silly blog, you might prove who is “Cuckoo like Cocoa Puffs” or who is “Guilty as Charged?” Apparently your every move is under a microscope. Helloooooo . . . If you don't want people to think a satirical blog refers to you don't act so guilty and wired for sound when the blog is posted.

There is no empirical research to prove it but it seems probable that most people who behave like idiots and throw their badge and gun down, use profanity and storm out like 5 year olds probably get demoted and moved or better yet fired. Especially when the rank and file make fun of them behind their backs and the locals join in. But in our fictitious and satirical "Bizarre World" such an odd G/S would ultimately only get a handful of days off. We don't know if it is true or not that the “Bad ASAC” held the weak SAC hostage refusing to retire unless the odd G/S did the time for his childish crime? It is said that even then weak SAC cut "odd's" time almost in half. Not because “odd” was innocent but just because SAC just didn’t like “Bad”. What good is authority if you can't misuse it, eh? What would the public think or even the jury think during the civil libel trial that has been threatened? Mike and Ron have a full plate.

Here's a wild concept . . . if you are wrong . . . take your medicine even if you don’t like the Doctor. Employees who fight punishment (even when watered down) that they deserve are no better than the old guard that covered up (or still try to cover up) the foibles of those they like or need and exacerbate and punish the mistakes of those they don’t like or don't need. No organization can function with weak, inconsistent and frivolous leadership. Neither can it exist with weak, self-serving, “me first” employees. Somebody has to start caring about the outfit instead of themselves. Or the present will become the future. Frivolous EEO complaints protect you from accountability but do NOT make you a better performing employee. The Office of Special Counsel only accepts 1% of all complaints and then only when there is evidence of substantial waste fraud and abuse. Sometimes you are just wrong and need to swallow it. Only then can you heal.

In closing, we know we must be on the right track because of the hysterical threats sent our way following the story of the “Bad ASAC”. The really cool thing about slander and libel accusations is that if pursued they get to ultimately be aired in the public forum so all of the facts become public record. Some say that if you want to do more than just woof about legal action for slander and libel be prepared for the other side of the story to come out, and out, and out and out all in front of the public at large. Hurt me again. Juries don’t like bureaucrats who misuse their authority for their own benefit, they don't care for fraud much either. Agencies also don't like public embarrassment. No national security blanket to protect your old guard secrets here guys. In fact truth, as it always has been, is a sacred defense.

Orphans No More!!

Don't Get Lost . . . Read the Message