ILL BET HE WORKED CLOSELY WITH MALL SECURITY AS WELL Coburn: DHS nominee Johnson used cribbed answers for confirmation hearing Published November 13, 2013FoxNewsFacebook51 Twitter50 LinkedIn0 johnson_jehfile.jpg FILE: Nov. 30, 2010: Jeh Johnson speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.AP The Obama administration was accused Wednesday of providing cribbed answers to 23 questions in the form the Senate received for the hearing of its nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security -- as the nominee also ran into criticism from one senator who said he wont vote for him unless he makes a major border security pledge. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., got into a heated exchange with nominee Jeh Johnson, pressing him to commit to boost border security to 90 percent effectiveness. Johnson did not make the pledge. McCain said he, then, could not support his nomination. That was after another senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, charged that the White House cut and pasted Johnsons responses to the committee. Coburn, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, charged at the start of Wednesdays hearing that the answers provided by nominee Johnson are the same as those provided by previous nominees. “These are the exact words [given] to the committee before,” he said at the start of the hearing. “We want to get your thoughts, not some legislative assistants.” Coburn said he supports Johnson’s nomination but will not allow it to go forward until the situation is corrected. The White House could not be reached for comment. But Johnson did not deny the allegation. And Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the committee chairman, said he was “not surprised,” considering the questionnaire has about 100 questions. He also said to Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel from 2009 to 2012: “I would just ask you to go back and edit” the answers. The long-time Obama supporter and former Defense Department general counsel would be the fourth Homeland Security secretary, if confirmed. Johnson, a multimillionaire attorney who was largely unknown in homeland security circles, was greeted in the hearing room by a small group of protesters decrying his role as a former top Defense Department lawyer who authorized drone strikes abroad. Capitol Police officers quickly moved the protesters to the back of the crowded room as they chanted no drone lawyer for DHS and carried pink signs. Johnson was nominated by Obama, and some have questioned whether he has the necessary law enforcement and management experience to run the more than 200,000-employee agency. In his opening statement, Johnson addressed those concerns immediately. I have experience in law enforcement, he said, citing his two years of experience as a federal prosecutor in New York. I worked with law enforcement officers of the Secret Service, what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI, the DEA and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:39:11 +0000