I heard an interesting rumor today and I am very reluctant
to share it on a couple of different levels. First I don’t want the people who
sent it my way to face any repercussions and secondly it is usually not a good
idea to destroy someone’s preconceived notions. But, since the rumor concerns
me and this blog, I have to set the record straight.
Apparently there is a rumor going around that I am some sort
of muckty-muck in DHS that is using this blog to get inside information about
the Department out into public light. There are a couple of things wrong with
that. First, I am not now, never have been, and almost certainly never will be
a member of DHS. Hell, I haven’t even been in the city of Washington in over 30
years.
I am not exactly the sort of person that someone would hire
for the Department nor would I really be happy being an employee of that
organization. I spent a number of years trying to be a somewhat compliant
member of the US Army and it used up all of my getting along with the
bureaucracy; as anyone that knew me in that period of my life can attest. And I
am certainly not someone who would be able to climb the internal ladder to
reach a level of bureaucratic power and there is no politician in their right
political mind that would appoint me to anything approaching a position of
authority.
In many ways I should be (and really am) proud that the
knowledge that I do have about the CFATS program is thought well enough of in
the community that people assume that I have to be in a special position of
influence to be able to share that knowledge. But a close observer would
probably note that I don’t have an infallible insider’s insight into the goings
on in ISCD or anywhere else in the Department (or on the Hill or in the
Transportation Department, or anywhere else that I write about).
What I do have is a basic knowledge of how agencies and
bureaucracies work, particularly in the political aspects of those operations.
I was raised in a household where politics and engineering were the things that
adults discussed and children were encouraged to listen and ask questions. I
studied history, and political science and even some law from a variety of
people that had insiders experience and I cultivated those connections whenever
I could.
And just as important as all of that, I have cultivated
connections over the last eight years with a number of people in and around the
chemical safety and security (and lately in the cybersecurity) realms that are
willing to tell me things about the goings on in these areas that are an
important part of my life. I seldom get the whole story or both sides of the story,
but I am experienced enough in the ways of the world to be able to piece
together what the other side or missing pieces probably look like. Finally, I
am not really trying to be a news person here, but rather an influencer of how
things are proceeding in the world.
Ten or twenty years ago I would not have been able to pull
off this blog without living in or near the seats of power. Without the
internet I would not have access to half of the information available to me and
the other half would be so out of date by the time that I got it that it would
be just about worthless. But I do exist here and now and the internet and
modern communications all make this possible.
So, sorry to destroy the mini-myth that is growing up around
PJ Coyle (Please not - Pat or Patrick Coyle; PJCoyle was my AOL handle and it got stuck to the blog when AOL was hosting it). I am just an able muckraker who is an evangelical about chemical
safety and security with a bit of knowledge about the political process with
access to modern research tools and a niddly need to explain things. Please
keep that in mind as you read this blog and perhaps send me interesting bits of
information, or questions to be answered.
Oh and please remember that muckrakers are cheap but we
still do have to feed the family and the dogs. A periodic small financial contribution
to the cause is always appreciated.
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