The Secretary of State has a full time job.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not just running the \u201cstructure\u201d of the State Department, embassies and offices scattered throughout the world, vetting and credentialing every US citizen who goes abroad, and controlling US aid (what little is left) to other countries.\u00a0\u00a0The Secretary also has to advise the President about situations and strategies all over the world, from Antarctic resources (or Greenland\u2019s) to suffering minorities (the\u00a0Uyghurs\u00a0in China) to the threat of expansionist nations like Russia and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, of course, there\u2019s a war in the Middle East. It’s a lot for any one individual to cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then he was made Security Advisor to the President. \u00a0While those jobs seem \u201cconcurrent\u201d in a sense, traditionally the Advisor has briefed the President directly on critical world issues, on a daily basis.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s something that Rubio, like most Secretaries of State, has some difficulty doing.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s constantly travelling the world, a key figure in the gathering of world leaders and trying to problem-solve world issues.\u00a0\u00a0Hard to advise the President too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as the commercial says \u201cWait there\u2019s more!!!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Secretary of State is the \u201csenior\u201d cabinet official, and as such, has a role in the \u201cdocumentation\u201d of American government.\u00a0\u00a0In the foundational Supreme Court case of Marbury v Madison, it was Madison\u2019s duty as Secretary of State to deliver a document appointing Marbury to a judicial position.\u00a0\u00a0Madison failed to do so, and thus became the named defendant in the court case.\u00a0\u00a0Should a President resign, that letter is directed to the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Secretary Rubio also has a much larger role in the \u201cpaperwork\u201d trail.\u00a0\u00a0He was appointed the \u201cArchivist\u201d of the United States, a wholly separate job as the leader of the National Archives.\u00a0\u00a0All US documents are stored there, from the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, to the President\u2019s secret emails.\u00a0\u00a0The Archivist plays an important role in the Electoral College process, gathering the electoral votes from the states and transmitting them (in big wooden boxes) to the Congress for counting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s three major roles Rubio holds, all three more than \u201cfull-time\u201d jobs serving the American government and people.\u00a0\u00a0Like Rubio or not, there\u2019s no question that he is qualified \u2013 both as Secretary and Adviser.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s not so prepared as an Archivist.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Trump Administration is, once again, taking the \u201ceasy way out\u201d to avoid having to confirm appointees through the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue is this.\u00a0\u00a0Normally, senior Executive Branch appointments have to have Senate confirmation.\u00a0\u00a0That includes the appointment process, hearings, debates, and final agreement.\u00a0\u00a0To avoid the \u201cofficial\u201d process, Trump appoints \u201crecess\u201d or \u201ctemporary\u201d appointees.\u00a0\u00a0All they have to have as a prior Senate confirmation for another job.\u00a0\u00a0That first imprimatur gives them the necessary qualification to serve as temporary in other positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The temporary appointment is limited (depending on the way it\u2019s done, from 120 to 300 days).\u00a0\u00a0But that\u2019s OK in the merry-go-round of Trump\u2019s executives.\u00a0\u00a0When one temporary is done, another can be put in.\u00a0\u00a0That completely avoids the \u201cregular order\u201d of Constitutionally mandated \u201cadvise and consent\u201d clause (Article 2, Section 2, Part 2).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, from their standpoint, that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0\u00a0Because, besides Rubio, now the President has appointed Bill Pulte as the \u201ctemporary\u201d Director of National Intelligence.\u00a0\u00a0Bill is the, Senate confirmed, Director of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Bill actually has some experience in the housing field.\u00a0\u00a0He is the heir to a multi-million dollar business that built homes in Florida.\u00a0\u00a0And, along with having a successful private-equity firm career, Bill created a charity that removes abandoned houses, and leaves clean lots instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon getting the Directorship, Bill immediately took over the leadership of the two Federal home mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Pulte quickly used his powers for Trump\u2019s ongoing retribution campaign.\u00a0\u00a0He accused three prime Trump enemies:\u00a0\u00a0Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook of forms of mortgage fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulte will continue in his role at the Housing and Finance Agency.\u00a0\u00a0But now, he\u2019s also taking on the Director of National Intelligence role.\u00a0\u00a0That job was created to consolidate the information gathering of the eighteen different intelligence agencies in the US government, to avoid the kind of failures that allowed 9-11 attacks to occur.\u00a0\u00a0Essentially, the DNI is in charge of ALL US intelligence agencies, like the CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA, and fourteen others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nowhere in his career does Pulte have any intelligence experience.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing he has done prepares him for the chief intelligence officer role in the US government.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing, that is, except for his proven loyalty to Trump, attested to by the accusations against Trump\u2019s enemies list.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
America is a war, right now.\u00a0\u00a0Many of our alliances, including the \u201cFive Eyes\u201d intelligence sharing group (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and the US) are teetering on the brink of collapse.\u00a0\u00a0NATO is not far behind.\u00a0\u00a0And, it seems like reliance on Israeli intelligence led the US into a complicated conflict with Iran.\u00a0\u00a0All of this is supposed to be directed by the DNI, and that Director must explain it to the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bill Pulte isn\u2019t that guy.\u00a0\u00a0His appointment leaves America even more vulnerable to attack, and to the kind of policy blunders we are seeing in the Straits of Hormuz.\u00a0\u00a0That fact is apparent to everyone; the Senate, the American people, and the world.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s not Bill\u2019s fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the fault of the President that appointed him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"