Think of a government agency or other federal entity which holds a positive view in your mind.
White House? Probably not, according to most polls. Congress? Not much better. Social Security Administration? IRS? Don’t be silly. Frankly, the only one that comes to my mind is the National Park Service, and that’s more for its inventory than its actual function.
One agency that’s at the bottom of my list is the Dept. of Homeland Security. At the outset, the DHS was a political football originally proposed by Sen. Joe Lieberman and then co-opted by the Republican majority in Congress who painted all who opposed it as, at the worst, traitors, and, at best, weak in the knees on defense.
On its creation, the DHS transferred several sputtering agencies of our government under a single entity with an Orwellian name in what was pitched as a bold move for national security in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. “We are protecting our citizens with a vast security bureaucracy,” our leaders seemed to be telling us, although in more menacing and threatening terms.
By the time newly minted Secretary Tom Ridge unveiled a candy-colored terror alert system, DHS was already beginning to be seen as an object of national suspicion (or derision) among many Americans. (Quick quiz: What is our current color/threat level? Click for answer. I guessed wrong).
Various PR crises dogged the agency and its 200K+ employees in its first few years, from billions in unfulfilled contracts to employees abusing government credit cards and the realization that a top official overseeing national security databases got her bachelor’s and other advanced degrees from diploma mill.
Ridge’s unremarkable term ended a year later with the re-election of President Bush, who promptly thrust the agency into a PR crisis by nominating former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik to take up the post. To his credit, Kerik’s replacement, Michael Chertoff, has brought some stability to the DHS in his four years at the helm.
In January, DHS’ public affairs team will be holding its breath as ABC unveils “Homeland Security USA,” a prime-time "reality" show featuring agency employees like border protection agents and the Coast Guard. It’s hard to imagine the Secret Service (also part of DHS now) doing any emotional sit-down interviews about protecting the President, but ABC says they’ll play a part.
The show’s producer created the “reality” genre hit “Big Brother” and ABC reportedly approached DHS public affairs to do the show, not the other way around.
The agency is in need of some good PR and the scripted cinema verite that is reality TV could be a good way to humanize the giant bureaucratic security entity, especially considering the American public’s fascination with criminal justice and cop shows.
Update 12/11: Then again, maybe another PR problem will arise and swamp any goodwill the ABC show could generate.
