I don't think it's a matter that anyone will blame Obama directly for, after all his name isn't Bill Clinton, the man who could get away with rape and in actuality did.
Many people might be surprised that the US Secret Service agency, usually associated with people of the highest intelligence and character, would have to deal with the kind of behavior you'd expect from sailors overseas on liberty, but I’m not.
I have never been a member of the Secret Service, but I did serve in the US Navy for many years in a job that gave me the opportunity to travel to many countries that the average sailor did not, and I am quite familiar with the culture and temptations that exist for young viral men in many third world countries and the pressures that are exerted on them from both their peers and supervisors, who are usually the ones that write their evaluation or fitness reports, by the way.
I'm not judging anyone, particularly the women who either voluntarily engage in the world’s oldest profession as a matter of survival, or are coerced into such behavior.
The main concern is that classified information such as travelling schedules could be ascertained by people with terrorist connections. When I was in the Navy on a cruise to South America, the condidtions in Columbia were considered so dangerous that the ship did not allow it's sailors to go on liberty in the mainland. Instead we had a private beach party on a nearby island off the coast. Even though the Secret Service is very careful with who they discuss classified information with, you never know what could be revealed during intimate relations with a beautiful woman, or as they say during "pillow talk".
When I use to travel to the US Navy base at Subic Bay Phillipines, a place where prostitution abounded just outside the gates, we use to laugh about how easy it was to find out when such and such an aircraft carrier or ship was due in port. This type of highly classified information was readily available by asking the working girls in the clubs. Their boyfriends stationed aboard Navy vessels were writing them or telephoning them about such information, which we would like to know about in order to make purchases at the exchange before the shelfs went bare after the arrival of a large aircraft carrier say.
Anyway...the point is, men talk to their girlfriends, as part of the flirtation process and the same applies to women in such positions of confidentiality. What is needed to hold them in check is leadership and constant training on how our enemies obtain secret information that can endanger US security and that starts at the top. A great leader sets the tone by his honesty, character, and ability to articulate what he expects from the Directors or Department Heads he appoints to execute his policies, as well as the underlings that should be using him as a role model. And make no mistake about it, they are the President’s policies. He simply cannot assume they understand their jobs. They need to be monitored and guidlines must be established at the beginning before an embarrasing incident like this occurs.
When I first started travelling the world as a young Navy musician, it was my supervisors and Chiefs who watched out for me, and I tried to do the same to young sailors when I became a Chief. It was the Admirals and Captains however that set the tone for the behavior that was expected of personnel who were in essence representing the United States in their travels abroad. And I got the message, eventually.
After I became a born again Christian at the age of 27, I lost my desire for such activities, anyway, and it became easier to resist temptation. In the Navy, we were constantly briefed about scams and ways to get into trouble in various ports, and I would hope it would be the same way for the Secret Service, but apparently it wasn't.
I've always seen the behavior of troops while on liberty, however, as an individual responsibility and a failure of leadership as well, when an incidident occurs. Harry Truman understood this with his oft reported slogan: The Bucks Stops Here. Barack Obama obviously doesn’t. Heck, he is still blaming George Bush for the disastrous economy that hasn’t created a single job since he has been President, despite what his phony jobs reports say. I’m not saying President Obama, doesn’t portray exemplary character in his personal life and there is no evidence to suggest his predecessor George W Bush did not either.
Bill Clinton? Well, that is another story, as portrayed in the humorous portrait on yhr right that has been circulating the internet. And who knows, maybe that is when the problem with the Secret Service began.
Regardless, when an incident such as this occurs, as it did with the woman in the flirtateous photo above that went virol over the internet on Wednesday and it also involves supervisors behaving in the same manner, there must be a culture of behavior that has been allowed to exist for a long time. And the people that are accountable are the ones at the very top of the pyramid. Who else can we start with?
No comments:
Post a Comment