Imaginary institute?

Keith Hall's abrupt departure from the Dept of Homeland Security may have demonstrated his profound disgust for the Felcher administration's unethical behavior. There is just nothing else to explain it.

Oh wait, I did some research today and found some new info that may not explain his departure, but that makes his appointment much more interesting. I wrote yesterday that he had put one homeland security qualification on his resume. He was Vice Chairman of the National Institute for Hometown Security, ostensibly based in Somerset, Ky, at the Center for Rural Development. I guess the joke was on me, because there is no real evidence that this Institute ever existed. I've found numerous announcements of its opening in November of 2004, but that's where the internet trail stops.

Here's an announcement from nov, 2004. The Center for Rural Development, which was wo house the Institute, only makes reference to it on its website here, in a press release announcing the establishment, dated Oct 22 2004.

The National Institute [was to] be based at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset and will be governed by a 13-member board of directors. Ewell Balltrip was named as Executive Director and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization.

Literally, every search result in Google for the quotation "National Institute for Hometown Security" involves the announcement, save two, the citation of Hall's resume, and a reference to The Kentucky Community Critical Infrastructure Protection Laboratory, at EKU. Don't believe me? LOok here. Searching a quotation of the "Kentucky Community Critical Infrastructure Protection Laboratory", returns only 4 results.

I thought, gee, maybe they dropped the National, because, you know, it was based in Somerset, so it was really probably more of a Western Kentucky thing, so I dropped the national and searched. No additional hits came up.

Now I'm pretty confused. A national institute with a 13 member board, an Executive Director and a Vice-Chairman with a $4M budget did nothing that left an internet record in the entire year? Nothing? I mean, wouldn't you think they'd send out a press release? I wonder how that money was spent and who appointed Keith Hall.

The Executive Cirector, Ewell Balltrip, appears to have at least some bona fides:

The National Institute for Hometown Security will be governed by a 13-member board of directors. Funding and the number of employees for the institute have not been determined, said Ewell Balltrip, executive director of the institute and former head of the Kentucky Appalachian Commission.

The Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium will have 11 initial projects costing $4 million.

That second sentence there that came over with sloppy highlighting, maybe there's info out there on that commission? Same thing, basically, 3 pages of hits, mostly on pages with links already darkened from previous searches. However, it appears tomorrow morning, by chance, UK's president will be talking about this consortium on WUKY. I will be listening.

Stepping back, another thing that strikes me, the budget for the Institue had not been decided upon. Other places seemed to indicate there was a $4M budget for the institute. Hmmm...

I have 2 numbers for Mr. Balltrip, one in Hazard and one in Somerset, that I will be calling tomorrow. Neither the Institute nor the Consortium have a listing in the yellow pages in Somerset. Update: The number in Hazard is registered to someone else, now.

The search continues.

UPDATE: Looking at the partners of KY's Homeland Security Department, I don't see the Institute of Hometown Security.