A year and a half ago (May, 2015), before da trumpeter ever threw his hat in the ring, I wrote a post about one of the least likely to succeed candidates, Carly Fiorina.  Though she, predictably, dropped out of the presidential race early on, she is back in the news today as Trump considers her for an important post in his administration: Director of National Intelligence.  My mind is reeling with this one.  Well, my mind has been reeling ever since his first proposed appointment, and it just gets worse with each consecutive one, but Fiorina???  Give me a break!  Much of what I wrote in my original post, when she was running for president, still applies and speaks volumes as to why she is as unqualified for this post as she was for president, so rather than re-invent the wheel, I am making some edits to the original post and including it here:

This morning I found, among numerous “breaking news” updates that regularly bombard my text and email message centers, the following: “Carly Fiorina announces she’ll seek the Republican nomination for president.” Not quite awake yet, I muttered to myself, “and just who the heck is this Carly person?” Naturally, I had to do the research, and this is what I found: Carly Fiorina is a former American business executive. Fiorina was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff, Lucent before becoming chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 when she was forced to resign (with a severance package reportedly worth $20 million!).

Fiorina was considered one of the most powerful women in business during her tenure at Lucent and Hewlett-Packard. In 2002, Fiorina pushed for a contentious merger with rival computer company Compaq, which made HP the world’s largest personal computer manufacturer but caused its stock to lose half of its value. In 2005, Fiorina was forced to resign from HP after refusing to address certain concerns brought to her attention by the Board of Directors.  Since then she has been described as one of the worst tech CEOs of all time. Fiorina ordered the layoffs of 30,000 HP employees during her tenure and is a strong supporter of outsourcing jobs overseas.

Fiorina promoted herself as Chair and CEO of Carly Fiorina Enterprises where, according to her political campaign Facebook page, she is “bringing her unique perspective and experience to bear on the challenging issues of our world, championing economic growth and empowerment for a more prosperous and secure world”. That undertaking caused more questions, when it was reported by The San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate that as of July 2009, she “never registered her Carly Fiorina Enterprises to conduct business in California, either with the California secretary of state or the clerk of Santa Clara County, where Fiorina lives.” That created some controversy, since, at that time, it was said (as The Chronicle further explains) that “Fiorina tells the public she’s the CEO of her own business and the chairwoman of her own charitable foundation” . The Chronicle asserted that “Records also show that her Fiorina Foundation has never registered with the Internal Revenue Service or the state attorney general’s charitable trust division, which tax- exempt charities are required to do.” The criticism of Fiorina’s actions continued to imply misleading self-portrayals, as it was pointed out that “titles of CEO and chairwoman imply the existence of a corporation, [but] no incorporation papers have been filed, a check of public records shows… Carly Fiorina Enterprises has not filed a fictitious business name record. A ‘doing business as,’ or DBA, statement usually is required when a business isn’t incorporated.” This controversy contributed, in part, to her loss in a bid for senate seat in 2010 against Senator Barbara Boxer.

Fiorina served as an advisor to Republican John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. She was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate from California in 2010, losing to incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. On May 4, 2015, Fiorina announced on Good Morning America that she is running for President of the United States in 2016.

She is quoted as saying “Hillary Clinton must not be president of the United States — but not because she’s a woman,” she told a cheering crowd in Iowa recently. “Hillary Clinton cannot be president of the United States because she is not trustworthy.” Although I am not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton, my opinion is that Ms. Fiorina is neither trustworthy nor does she have the qualifications to be President of the United States. Her knowledge of global issues and international relations is very much limited to business, which is but a small portion of what is involved in being an international leader. She has never served in Congress, nor has she ever held any public office. In fact, her only career experience is as a corporate leader, and while it is true that she was heralded more than once as one of the most powerful women in the U.S., her career is also controversial, as she is a strong believer in outsourcing jobs overseas and was, as previously noted, responsible for more than 30,000 people being laid off at Hewlett-Packard.

To further clarify Ms. Fiorina’s lack of qualifications for the job, under 50 U.S.C. § 403-3a, “under ordinary circumstances, it is desirable” that either the Director or the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence be an active-duty commissioned officer in the armed forces or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. The statute does not specify what rank the commissioned officer will hold during his or her tenure in either position, but historically a four-star general or admiral has served. On July 20, 2010, President Obama nominated retired Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper for the position. Clapper was confirmed by the Senate on August 5, 2010, and replaced acting Director David C. Gompert. The prior DNI was retired Navy four-star admiral Dennis C. Blair, whose resignation became effective May 28, 2010.

Additionally, given her support of outsourcing jobs overseas, which is diametrically opposed to the stance Trump claims to take, I am surprised that she is even under consideration.  Ms. Fiorina has exactly none of the experience that would qualify her for this position, and it is such an important position that the last thing we need is a failed executive.