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Ten Years After 9/11 – Three Perspectives On Homeland Security’s Mission

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Roger Cressey can recall with great precision the moment, ten years ago, when the homeland security mission came to life out of the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

“It was the magnitude and the gravity of what we were dealing with, literally when the towers were crumbling, realizing that the world had changed and that our government – our nation – had changed,” said Cressey, who served as the Deputy for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council on 9/11. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 7, 2011 at 12:15 PM

Ten Years After 9/11: Three Eyewitness Perspectives On DHS’s Creation

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About This Program:
In this mini-documentary exclusive for Breaking Gov, award-winning journalist Dan Verton brings us back to the day that changed the world and traces the evolution of the homeland security mission through the eyes of three men who were present at its creation.

This is the story of the birth and evolution of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as told by the nation’s first secretary of Homeland Security, the deputy for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, and the CIA’s deputy director of intelligence, who would go on to become the first Staff Director for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 7, 2011 at 12:01 PM

Secret Service Urges Senate Committee To Update Computer Fraud Laws

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While cyber-criminals operate in a world without borders, the law enforcement community does not, making a proposed update to computer fraud and abuse laws more essential than ever, a senior Secret Service official told a Senate banking committee today.

“The increasingly multi-national, multi-jurisdictional nature of cyber crime cases has increased the time and resources needed for successful investigation and adjudication,” said Pablo A. Martinez, deputy special agent in charge, Criminal Investigative Division of U.S. Secret Service, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 7, 2011 at 11:09 AM
Technology

2011 Data Breach Investigations Report

Source: VerizonBusiness.com

DHS: Young, Flawed and Hobbled By Congress

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has faced a great deal of scrutiny, both from the public and from Congressional leaders since its creation in 2003. Some have accused it of being dysfunctional, ineffective, and mismanaged, going so far as to call for the dissolution of the Department. While we should ask a great deal of the agency designated to protect us against terrorism and other threats, much of this criticism is misguided, as are recommendations to close the department.

We must face the reality that working to improve DHS is our only option. From a purely practical perspective, DHS is unlikely to be disestablished. We have no track record of closing cabinet departments, and it is unreasonable to expect Congress to assume the political risk associated with pursuing the elimination of the organization designed to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we must acknowledge that, strategically, DHS is too vital to simply do away with. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 7, 2011 at 8:56 AM

Federal Workers Might Bear Brunt of Postal Service’s Fiscal Collapse

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The Postal Service presented a proposal to Congress on Tuesday that might stave off financial collapse but would have far-reaching ramifications for federal workers.

Postal officials say they will be unable to make this month’s $5.5 billion payment to cover future employee health care costs because the agency will have reached its borrowing limit and doesn’t have enough cash. The Postal Service has proposed ending Saturday mail delivery and is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs as it faces a second straight year of losses of $8 billion or more. A decline in mail because of the Internet and the loss of revenue from advertising amid the economic downturn have taken a toll on the agency. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 6, 2011 at 4:04 PM
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Workforce

Congressional Testimony On Postal Crisis

Source: Office of Personnel Managment

Daniel Gordon: ‘Progress on Wartime Contracting’

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This commentary originally appeared as a blog post on The White House’s Office web site.

COMMENTARY:
When the Administration took office, it was clear to us that for too long there was not adequate oversight of contractors, leading to wasted taxpayer dollars, repeated delivery delays, and unacceptable contractor performance. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in wartime contracting during the last decade. That’s why this Administration has focused on cutting waste in contracting, boosting oversight, and strengthening accountability of contractors. And more broadly, earlier this summer the White House launched the Campaign to Cut Waste, a government-wide drive to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse.

On August 31, the Commission on Wartime Contracting released a report on these challenges. We welcome the report and commend the Commission for shining a spotlight on waste in contracting, on the need to strengthen the contracting function at agencies, on the value of increasing competition in contracting, and on the importance of holding contractors accountable for their performance. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 6, 2011 at 1:58 PM
Management

Transforming Wartime Contracting

Source: Commission on Wartime Contracting

Gov Book Talk: ‘Pentagon 9/11’ – 10 Years Later

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It’s hard to believe that the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is almost here. It was one of those events, like Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination, which remains in the memory with startling clarity.

From where I was working in the Government Printing Office (GPO), we could see the column of smoke from the strike on the Pentagon. Later, after Federal Government facilities in the DC area closed down, I walked from GPO to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (I still remember a woman telling a Smithsonian guard that she had seen someone on the building’s roof – and who could tell what that meant in a world spinning out of control?) to meet my wife, who by some miracle got into the District and picked me up. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 6, 2011 at 1:32 PM
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