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March 31, 2008
House Homeland Security Committee Upcoming Activities
- April 1 at 2pm the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber security and Science & Technology will hold a hearing on “The Future Of Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security” with a presentation from DHS Under Secretary Jay Cohen. The proceedings will be web cast and can be accessed from the Committee’s homepage at: http://homeland.house.gov/
- April 2 in the Rayburn Foyer the Committee will hold a Bioterrorism Technology Fair intended to promote a better understanding of technologies used in combating bioterrorism.
Federal Register Notifications
- The General Services Administration, NASA and Department of Defense jointly published two separate requests for information to guide the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council on determining whether the Federal Acquisition Regulation System’s current guidance on organizational and service contractor employee personal conflicts of interest adequately address the current needs of the acquisition community or whether providing standard provisions and/or clauses, or a set of such standard provisions and clauses, might be beneficial. Comments will be accepted through May 27, 2008 and will be used to help formulate any proposed or interim rules.
Among the reasons cited for the request for information is recent GAO reports (GAO-08-169) and the increased use by the federal government of private contractors to perform a wide array of government work. The full text of the two requests is attached.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology published a notice of inventions available for licensing. NIST Docket Number 7-003, Highly Charged Ion Modified Oxides for Tunable Resistance and NIST Docket Number 7-008, Four-Wave Mixing Source of Squeezed Light for Image Processing and Interferometry have been made available for licensing in accordance with federal rules to achieve expeditious commercialization. More details are described in the attachment.
- Travel anyone? The Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, US Commercial Service is organizing an aerospace, defense and security trade mission October 7-10 to Athens, Greece with an optional stop in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 5-6. The mission will include both Greek and Turkish business contacts and will coincide with the Defendory 2008 in Athens. The trade mission will target a broad range of aerospace, defense, and safety and security products and services and will consist of one-one-one appointments at the Defendory exhibit site. Further details are described in the attached Federal Register posting.
In The News:
- Washington Post:
Lockheed Secures Bid for Military Radio System
The Post reports on Lockheed’s $1.3 billion successful bid to overhaul the military’s radio system.
- New York Post:
Weiner Rips Security Spending
Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn) released a new review of DHS spending, detailing what he believed was $16 million in “outrageous homeland security spending” which ends up shortchanging New York City on homeland security investments.
- GAO: Army Case Study Delineates Concerns with Use of Contractors as Contract Specialists
In a case study done to better understand the use of contractors in the role of contract specialists, GAO review recommends that the Secretary of Defense issue guidance regarding personal services contracts and that the Secretary of the Army direct ACA to work with CCE to develop a plan that addresses the appropriate mix of government and contractors, implement a training program, and ensure that contractors identify themselves as such. GAO also recommends that GSA implement controls to prevent contractors from improperly advertising their services. GAO-08-360 can be found at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08360.pdf 
- GAO: Defense Space Activities: National Security Space Strategy Needed to Guide Future DOD Space Efforts
GAO notes in a review to the House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, that the DOD depends on space assets to support a wide range of military missions to include intelligence collection; battlefield surveillance and management; global command, control and communications; and navigation assistance. It notes however that there is no strategy in place to link the defense and intelligence communities and that future space programs, plans and new space concepts will be developed without the overarching strategic guidance that a national strategy could provide and believes Congress should consider requiring the Secretary of Defense and Director of National Intelligence to identify and resolve any remaining differences of opinion and issue a National Security Space Strategy. The full text can be found at:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08431r.pdf
- Homeland Security Department & Airline Industry At Odds over Fingerprint Regulations
DHS and the airline industry continue to tangle over a key national security program, sparking fears that travel out of the United States could be disrupted, while placing in jeopardy the ability of the US government to meet a looming Congressional mandate.
DHS is on the verge of issuing a rule that would require airlines to take the fingerprints of most foreigners leaving the country via air. The rule is intended to fulfill a requirement of the US-VISIT program that biometrics be used to verify when foreigners leave the country. The airline industry has been lobbying OMB to either significantly alter or kill the mandate that would require them to collect fingerprints at check-in counters. The law, enacted last year requires DHS to have a system in place by June 30, 2009, at airports to verity the departure of at least 97% of foreigners. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff last week, House Homeland Security Chairman Thompson and Homeland Security Border Subcommittee Chairman Loretta Sanchez said that the “potential delegation of inherently governmental responsibilities to the air carriers is troubling” while adding, “The department can expect a thorough review of the [proposed rule] by the committee and the submission of official comments …. We urge you to actively engage the air industry so a successful biometric air exit system can be implemented.”
A related article on the fingerprint imaging pilot at JFK in New York City appeared in last week’s New York Times.
- Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina: Place a Higher Value Private Sector & Local Knowledge Insight
A new argues that the legacy of Hurricane Katrina should be a deeper understanding of the limits of centralized bureaucracy in emergency planning and response and a deeper appreciation of the role of the private sector and local knowledge.
Find the report here
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