Clark Kent Ervin is the former Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. During his time on the job he issued some fairly critical reports and spoke of various security vulnerabilities. He was let go back in 2004 and it appears it was because of his constant criticism of security vulnerabilities. He has written a book titled Open Target : Where America is Vulnerable to Attack.

Check out this ABCNews Nightline video report where he tells some of his story. (Text report with less details.)

Mr. Ervin is a Republican, that served as Deputy Attorney General in Texas under then Governor George W. Bush. He started in DC under former Secretary of State Colin Powell, as Inspector General and then was made the Inspector General of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

During his time on the job he found that it was as easy to sneak weapons on a plane 2 years after the formation of DHS as it was before the creation of DHS. He is also upset because he claims that cargo loaded onto passenger planes is not tested for nuclear material. And he takes issue with level of inspection performed on cargo from ships. He says people like former DHS head Tom Ridge were not happy with him being critical of the department. The White House says he was not let go for being critical.

Mr. Ervin has a blog called “Open Target”.

So is Ervin right or wrong? I’ve found the following information and must say I think in some ways he might be right and in others it appears he uses a bit of double-talk:

• Regarding port security, Ian at Expose the Left has video showing how 98% of cargo containers from ships are checked at our sea ports for nuclear material. Only 5% are actually opened and fully inspected by hand. ABCNews has been able to slip material by the screeners, that they feel should have been detected.
• Regarding airline baggage security, USNews.com found that there are new methods used for checking baggage, but some in security feel it’s not enough and not working well enough either. This says nothing about food carts and other items placed on planes.
• Blog Homeland Security Watch has caught Mr. Ervin contradicting himself. Mr. Ervin like Liberals laments the 40% Federal Security funding cuts to places like New York, but he himself said that other cities needed more funding.

  Does a big city that is a big target have to take more responsibility for its self at some point, or should the entire country continue to have to support it at the exact same level into infinity?

• Blog Homeland Security Watch also has a full review of Mr. Ervin’s book, which is a bit critical.
• Conservative commentator Debbie Schlussel hypes the book and received feedback from an agent that agrees with Ervin.
• Democrat and 9/11 Commission vice-chair Lee H. Hamilton has a review of the book in the Washington Post.

This is a matter where if we are not attacked again in the next 10 years than maybe he was a little overly critical, but if we are attacked again in the near future than we’ll all be crying that he was right. We all know there is still more to be done. Let’s just hope the messenger was not fired simply because his gave an honest report, that was not favorable to the Administration. The Bush Administration has been found to make some bad choices in the area of immigration and customs enforcement in the past, when it comes to picking a candidate. So it’s not too far fetched an idea to believe that someone was fired for not making the Administration look good.

Related post: Congressman Duncan Hunter?s Bill to Protect America?s Critical Infrastructure