American officials said they had simply asked that the visit be delayed until new secretaries of state and defense had assumed their duties.
Mr. Cheney says that as the new administration's Cabinet members assume their duties, his role "will be significantly more discreet".
But there was talk among firefighters that the incident could have been an attempt to keep the city from closing the four Brooklyn firehouses by disabling others that would assume their duties.
Pamela Teaster, the director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech and one of the few scholars in the country who study guardianship, told me that, though most guardians assume their duties for good reasons, the guardianship system is "a morass, a total mess".
After the Commandants of interior commanderies were abolished, the Administrators assumed their duties, yet they were still not allowed to raise militias, mobilize troops, or send troops outside their commandery without permission frm the central government.
This agreement was upheld by the Municipal Police Chief's subsequently elected replacement, as well as the new Tijuana's mayor who assumed their duties in December 2013.
After their training they complete a three-month internship before assuming their official duties.
The new rules could nearly double that figure, homeland security statistics suggest.Officials said they would observe Tucson and Laredo, where roughly 3,050 agents will assume their new duties, before applying the process to other border regions.
Vacancies mean longer hours and at least temporary career stagnation for those who've been promoted but cannot yet fully assume their new duties, police sources said.
