All they can do is gobble up the money and make excuses for systemic failures. Government breakdown. Thats tonight. This is the independents. Hi there im kennedy, hostess, along with the unflappable reason editor in chief matt welch and a man who reads more books than the library. Kmele foster from freethink media and together we are the independents. President isnt the only one plagued by scandals as question so much government. Congress is despised, the va is unmanageable and every institution is burstinga the seams. The agency that is supposed to keep superbugs from invading our shores is too busy wasting money in resources telling people how much salt we should put on steaks. Do the agencies overextend themselves . And how can you refocus the behemoth in the middle of colossal breakdowns. Glenn reynolds is the editor at instapundit. Com, and how multitasking may put many at risk for contracting a deadly disease like ebola. Glenn, welcome back to the independents. Thanks for having me back. Love it here. Kennedy couple days ago we heard about the tragic death of thomas duncan, the man in dallas who succumbed to dallas, diagnosed with the disease in this country, he caught it in liberia. What has the cdc done so far that has either put us at risk or shown that the agency is too big and can fail . Well, i mean, the whole thing was bungled. You know earlier on, he got past Health Authorities in liberia through the lying, there was no check when he got to the United States, he went to a hospital complaining of symptoms and was sen home. Despite telling them he was coming from liberia. Then when he got back, the ambulance picked him up, took no precautions, he was throwing up, there was vomit everywhere, not very well cleaned up. Once he was in the hospital, his family was stuck in the apartment where the bedings and linens were saturated with ebola virus for a couple of days before they moved them to a quarantined place. So all of the stuff that when theyre doing budget hearings, they talk about how theyre going to save us from the next deadly disease, none of that stuff appeared. None of the guys in hazmat suits and the inflatable tunnels like e. T. It was just the usual bungling. Glenn, your column, reiterates the phrase you had one job, it is called the center for disease control. What are some of the jobs that it is doing that it should not . Theyre spending a lot of time looking at playground safety, agitating to get back into the business of Firearm Safety studies which congress blocked them from doing, what theyre producing is politicized junk science. They are as kennedy said worrying about how much salt were putting on steak and drinking sugary sodas. Maybe that is important, i dont tend to think that it is. Theyre the centers for disease control. They have a major job, which is to protect us from major Infectious Disease outbreaks. Glenn, you are saying the glut of responsibilities, the accumulation of various objectives is universal throughout government. Is there a way to make organizations like the cdc run and operate effectively, even a thorough going libertarian like myself can acknowledge there ought to be a role for government in trying to manage natural disasters or outbreaks of pandemics . I wish i could give you an answer to that, but Mission Creep is a standard bureaucratic problem, you hope the congressional oversight committees will prune the undergrowth every now and then. They dont seem good at it. The best thing you can do is make a big stink as they screw up like theyve done here. When you talk about shrinking government, people say you must be in favor of Infectious Disease raging out of control and roads not being built. I do that all the time. They spend it on Something Else. Is there an example that you can point to, a successful government reform and redefining of a mission, i hear people pointing to the military after the debacles of vietnam and the draft reshaping itself. There are good examples out there . The military is one good example. One example of a successful policy under the Obama Administration is in the space area, while nasa hasnt done especially well, they have shifted a lot of stuff to the private sector and we have the booming new companies, spacex and x cor and a bunch of others, taking off, literally, and obama doesnt care about space, maybe more neglect is what we need. Kennedy he doesnt seem to care about a lot. And apathy is not the main reason for governmental breakdown but adds to it. We talk about governmental breakdown its not just the u. S. Government. A big problem with ebola is the World Health Organization in africa. You know, the africa portion of the u. N. s health arm let part of the world down, number one, and number two, there are those who claim that there is, and i know this is hard for people to believe because they want to give into hysteria right now, there are countries trying to profit off of a threat inflation so they get more money. Sure, and you know whats the World Health Organization been doing the past week . They were having an International Meeting to argue for global tax on tobacco. So you know, thats their Mission Creep. Their job is supposed to protect us, theres a polio outbreak in pakistan, ebola in africa. Malaria is roaring back and they want tax on tobacco. A tax brings in money, thats what they want. You and i got to know each other after 9 11, and the response to it was to centralize, make a department of Homeland Security, get a tsa and bunch of government employees. How come we never have the instinct to not centralize in the face of a calamity . Yeah, its funny, i wrote a bunch of columns right after 9 11 writing for fox and saying more layers of bureaucracy is not the solution to a problem created by layers of bureaucracy that didnt do their jobs, that seems to be the instinct. We created tsa, a debacle, the department of Homeland Security has been a debacle. And pumped huge amounts of money into the cdc to protect us against bioterrorism and outbreaks of disease, im waiting to see the value for that. Yeah, you know, its funny, the old British Empire used to create a lean operation, somehow they managed to rule most of the world. Maybe we need to put everyone on a diet. Kennedy from the cdc to the military, our bureaucrats are bloated and i blame all the salty steaks. Glenn reynolds, thank you so much. Thank you. The cia hates congress and wants more money and more power, but theres been a breakdown from the top down. Well talk with a former agent on what went wrong and how that puts us all at risk . 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So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call today to request a free decision guide. With these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. Join the millions who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. And provided by unitedhealthcare Insurance Company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. With all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. Call now to request your free decision guide. Kennedy lets welcome emily brandwin, who served before and during september 11th. Welcome to the independents. Hi, thank you so much for having me thank you for being here. Show tonight is about government breakdown, agencies that have either grown so large and inefficient that they no longer cease to function properly or go rogue want and to operate on their own terms. How would you classify the cias governmental breakdown . I think it went through such a difficult change, the cia was used to operating a certain way for so long, and it didnt really need to change, after 9 11, everything changed and the cia had a harder time to adapting because it was a little antiquated and having a real challenge doing that. You talk about having a cold war mentality that the cia was founded on after world war ii. You can describe operationally what that means today, the vestiges of the cold war mentality as its practiceed . Sure, when you go through training at the farm, the cia training facility, its a lot of more cold war techniques, you have a lot of officers, which is the old guard, the old school, and theyre training you, that was the mentality, and the cold war, the enemies, the russians and thats what you know. And things have obviously changed and were learning how to really adapt and how do you spy and work with a different enemy . A new enemy . Its a real challenge how to do that. How do you recruit. Kennedy you make a really good point, the world was so much more convenient for Government Agencies, when we existed in black and white, us versus them. The good guys versus the bad guys, were seeing with isis that there are alliances and groups that are interchanging, its very confusing. Is the cia capable of gathering the kind of intelligence necessary to win the war on terror . You know, theyre going to have to be, and that will be the struggle because theyre going to have to adapt and going to have to change, otherwise were going to lose the war. Emily, another holdover from the cold war era is obsession with secrecy. We talk a lot about secrecy even now, the cia is involved in a number of Different Military programs. How do you balance this presumed need for secrecy with the necessary need for transparency and accountability as well . Well, its hard because you have, again, this older, Old School Mentality where everything was need to know, need to know, need to know, and now, more of our policymakers have a need to know, and the cia was used to working in a bubble and used to having a lot more autonomy, because the scandals are coming out, they cant work in the same way, and theyre going to have to be transparent and loosen their grip. There is a paranoia out there, within the agency as well, what if the secrets come out. Theres a lot of overclassification on information that doesnt need to be classified. And i think they need to loosen the reins a little bit and find when they do that, they have a lot better cooperation with our partners within the intelligence services. And within congress, if congress feels like its spied on by the cia, thats problematic, not only for the agency but for the rest of us, because at some point its going to compromise what the agency is supposed to do, its not soviet russia, we live in america. Emily, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Kennedy absolutely. Congress is so unpopular, given the choice most americans would prefer a magic 8 ball over the marbled clown car, that is capitol hill. One representative escaped the imperial swamp. He tells us what is wrong with congress . Thats next. So ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts . Thats right. Its just that im worried about you know hidden things. Ok, whys that . No hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. Kennedy new data Shows Congress has an 11. 8 approval rating. Woo i can smell that from here. All they want to do is sit around and fight and blame the koch brothers, do the house and senate properly function . Lets ask a man who got out. Thaddeus mccotter, author of liberty risen, the ultimate triumph of libertarian republicans. Thad, lets talk about your days in the house. Did the house function as ineffectively as it does now . I had the pleasure of serving with john dingell, the gentleman who served longest of any person in the house. Kennedy longer than Strom Thurmond . John was in the house his whole career. He would talk about in the old days, they could talk, it was never personal and the jets and everyone else came. They were more free agents, individualistic and never have time for each other. They would always be going back and forth and as the media increased, it led to the total breakdown between the aisle and the caucus itself. Some of that crazy libertarian response means great, that means theyre not going to cooperate and give me a trillion dollar farm bill, and the moments of comedy and tip oneill afterhours. Kennedy like deficits. Can you tell us Practical Impacts beyond, that creates dysfunction when people are sordid like that . Means you get bitten on both cheeks. [ laughter ] of your face. Kennedy thank you for the qualification. But, if i may answer his question, we live in the internet age, congress right now is a hierarchical institution that insulates itself from the changes around it and surely wants to be pyramid rather than horizontal. The ability of individual members to get together regardless of which side of the aisle theyre on can make a fixed institution itself to make a representative of people who live in these times. As opposed to to congress who lives wherever the hell theyve been. In the absence of structural change within the institution means the absence of structural change within government itself and how it directly affects the American People. Do you think it affects the American People more than say some of the other institutions were talking about here tonight, whether its the cia, the va, the cdc, what is it about congress that is more effective . Well, the bureaucracy is the most insulated ironically by operation of law to protect them from politics, one of the progressive era exists, its a tech nok technocracy, legislation can be changed and easily be changed by the people you send there. Youre going to get it on both cheeks. A good column last week talking about how the idea was always that we should congress would love their own power, but, in fact, theyre not so concerned with the exercise of power anymore, theyre concerned with perks for themselves. The struggle for the executive branch has dissipated, thereby undoing the framers intent, do you think thats a good analysis . The analysis is they want the perpetuation of power, its not about the perks, they do, especially the true believers on the republican side and the democratic side want the power to somehow change america for what they believe to be the better vision. Kennedy i believe a lot of people who were first elected believe, that they start out with good intentions but are corrupted along the way. Thats what gets to you sleep at night. It becomes the perpetuation of power. In absence of vision for the American People, you say day to day transactional politics. James mcgregor burns in his book defined transactional leadership or transformational leadership, were not seeing transformational leadership, we were promised it in 2008. Kennedy and then some. And then some. The machinations of politics, there is no collaboration to reach a common destination and the public is frustrated, nothing is done and you see the tribal warfare amongst the caucuses and Approval Ratings tank. Kennedy is the only way to get things done to have one party control, both houses or the presidency . I dont know, i like to refer to the cross currents of globalization and the communications revolution, and you see this in the nsa, where you see a strange amalgam across the aisle of people who support it, people who oppose it. Youre going to continue to see that. I continue to see a time when the younger member, genx and the millennials who are in tune with whats going on, will find the battles, the turf wars and the standard arguments to be no longer operative and especially continue to face challenges, mounting as they do, to critical proportions, crisis level, theyre going to be more engaged in how to restructure a 19th century bureaucratic government to meet the needs of a 21st century. Kennedy like education, you laid out the problems with so many in the branch of government. Last question, do you want to go back to congress. No. Kennedy thank you so much. Former fema director Michael Brown joins us to talk about katrina. Has fema cleaned up its act since 2005 . The government breakdown continues. Keeping a billion customers a year flying, means keeping seven billion transactions flowing. And when weather hits, its data mayhem. But airlines running hp endtoend solutions are always calm during a storm. 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