AFAUSSS New Board No Leadership

If the board had any leadership at all, they would be pressuring current USSS management as to why they haven't done anything to fix the problems in the agency. They would be asking Director Sullivan why people are leaving the job at all points of their career now: pre-detail, on-the-detail, and post-detail. They would ask why, eight years after the U.S. News & World Report article detailing problems within the USSS, that those problems remain the same: lack of training, lack of manpower, lack of resources, and quality of life. There is no fourth shift training now because SA's get temped out to a satellite detail during that time, or they get sent out on an advance. The work schedule still comes out on Friday night, so you don't know what you're doing on Sunday.

Great association. You might as well call it the Association of the Former Secret Service because if things continue, it's only a matter of time before the Bureau comes in and takes everything over. Have fun telling your "war" stories.

The last few messages on this thread demonstrate another clear situation that a message thread starts on one topic (a clear and concise statement of facts that the BOD can answer or say sorry we screwed up), but no reply. Instead, the Board changed the topic and attacked the messengers who asked reasonable questions such as Why does the region 1 director need an additional $180,000.00 be raised for his NYC annual conference? This is $180,000 more than the costs the members will pay in their registration fees. What is that money needed for? No answer.

The question about pay grades in this thread goes to the fact that the annual conference is attended by 90% of members at the GS-14 or above. The board purposefully makes the events so expensive that only a handful want to go.

More observations of poor leadership. The BOD hired a new financial management firm to invest the foundations funds without asking for competing bids. The BOD hired the company whose sole claim to fame was that it donates money to run the Oldstar message board. Professional search? Not done.

Why are the number of members listed on Oldstar (list all) inflated by 100 persons from the names listed in the Oldstar (excel) membership list? People who did not pay dues still have access to Oldstar. Leadership? None.

Your problem is that you are making several unreasonable assumptions. They are:

1. That any members of the board read this forum.
2. That the board has posted messages in this forum to change the subject of the thread or for any other purpose.
3. That the board would respond to any of your posts in this publicly accessible forum.
4. That the board even knew in advance about the solicitation for $180,000 for a non-association related purpose.
5. That the board would deliberately exclude some association members from a conference by making attendance very expensive so that lower income retirees could not afford to attend, and that the board's motive was elitism.

I really doubt that any board member reads this forum. Many of them don't even visit the official association web site.

I'm not saying that they are doing well as far as managing the association goes. I just wonder to what extent the problems you mention can be attributed to inexperience rather than deliberate intent to deceive.

If the board had any leadership at all, they would be pressuring current USSS management as to why they haven't done anything to fix the problems in the agency.

The mandate of AFAUSSS, according to its founding documents, is to provide a vehicle for retirees to network socially.

It was not created for the purpose of exerting any pressure of any kind on Secret Service management.

Well, if the AFAUSSS is strictly a vehicle for networking, then they should take their gripes about the Ya-Ya Sisterhood elsewhere. This is an LEO affairs website and shouldn't be used as a vehicle venting about social outtings, hotel rooms, and the fact that someone feels they got the cold shoulder from former management at a networking meeting.

Use this site to focues on providing a forum for real issues: the fact that the USSS has the worst retention rate in federal law enforcement, that almost no one transfers from other agencies to the USSS, that it is no longer a good place to work, and that current management is ineffective.

Well, if the AFAUSSS is strictly a vehicle for networking, then they should take their gripes about the Ya-Ya Sisterhood elsewhere. This is an LEO affairs website and shouldn't be used as a vehicle venting about social outtings, hotel rooms, and the fact that someone feels they got the cold shoulder from former management at a networking meeting.

Use this site to focues on providing a forum for real issues: the fact that the USSS has the worst retention rate in federal law enforcement, that almost no one transfers from other agencies to the USSS, that it is no longer a good place to work, and that current management is ineffective.

Well, no..............

The point was not that it was inappropriate to discuss AFAUSS issues, but rather that the association mandate does not include PRESSURING THE USSS TO DO ANYTHING. Incidentally, how would a group of old retirees have any leverage to exert any presssure>

The simple fact is that you will seldom see a post on here from an active duty agent. Almost all posts will be from retirees or outsiders. Why? Because the USSS has one of the most sophisticated systems for investigating activities on the Internet and the agents (rightly or wrongly) fear that this capability could be brought to bear to identify anyone who posts negative material about the agency.

So, don't worry your pretty little head about what we do on here. 'we can manage for ourselves.