Contractors outnumber full-time workers at DHS; lawmakers 'astounded'

[Deadmanwalking_05]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/...tor/index.html

By Jeanne Meserve, CNN
February 24, 2010 2:07 a.m. EST

The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was “unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable.”

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and ranking Republican Susan Collins said they were “astounded” to learn there are more than 200,000 contractor employees at the department.

The civilian work force of Homeland Security numbers 188,000, according to an estimate provided to the senators by Homeland Security...

http://www.infowars.com/contractors-...ers-astounded/

[Heretic]

*shrugs*

You want smaller government? This is what you get. Just like so many private companies have discovered, no matter how much overhead you want to save by simply laying off your employees, the work still needs to get done. If you are unwilling to re-hire full-time employees, your only choice is to farm the work out to freelancers.

My question is: how much of this contract work is clerical, and how much involves serious law enforcement-style activity? If those contractors are simply handling food service, janitorial, and minor clerical duties, I could care less about how many of them are being used.


- Heretic