Weekly Insider
In This Issue: June 23, 2014 
ABOUT THE WEEKLY INSIDER'S MISSION:  GTSC was started by small business CEOs to build a community of people and companies devoted to the homeland and national security mission.  The mission of our Weekly Insider is to summarize and consolidate weekly news you should know from DHS, DOD, ODNI, DOJ and DOS and GSA or other agencies related to procurement and acquisition as appropriate.  We cover major missions, initiatives and opportunities in these agencies in addition to major legislative or agency initiatives that would have an impact on our community.  If you need additional information or have suggestions on how we can improve our content or coverage, please let us know!
BlogGTSC BLOG
THE NEW GOVERNMENT PARADIGM:  PLAN, PREPARE, POSITION, PARTNER 

By Earl Holland,III, President & CEO, Growth Strategy Consultants and Strategic Advisor to GTSC

 

I recently attended a small business Match Making event hosted by the Government Technology Services Coalition for small business and prime contractors to meet, greet and exchange information on each other in hopes of identifying potential government contracting opportunities. This event showcased a three person panel of small business program office directors from the Small Disadvantage Business Offices of three different Federal agencies.

 

I have attended many of these match-making sessions and recently asked the question in one of my Linkedin discussion groups: is attending these events valuable time well spent or a waste of time? I received various comments both positive and negative. However, I must say that this particular event was one of the best that I have attended and my reason is based on the content that the government panelist shared with the small businesses.  >>READ the Blog

dhsnewsDEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS

COAST GUARD:  CAN THEY BE MISSION READY?

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reviewed select Coast Guard assets and found that they generally demonstrated improved performance--according to Coast Guard operators--but GAO found that they have yet to meet all key requirements from recommendations made by a previous GAO report. Two assets, the HC-144 patrol aircraft and Fast Response Cutter, did not meet all key requirements during operational testing before being approved for full-rate production, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Coast Guard guidance do not clearly specify when this level of performance should be achieved. Additionally, the Coast Guard changed its testing strategy for the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system and, as a result, is no longer planning to test the system's key requirements. Completing operational testing for the C4ISR system would provide the Coast Guard with the knowledge of whether this asset meets requirements.

 

GAO found that the Coast Guard has repeatedly delayed and reduced its capability through its annual budget process and, therefore, does not know the extent to which it will meet mission needs and achieve desired results. The Coast Guard does not have a long-term fleet modernization plan that identifies all acquisitions needed to meet mission needs over the next two decades within available resources. Without such a plan, the Coast Guard cannot know the extent to which its assets are affordable and whether it can maintain service levels and meet mission needs. GAO recommended that Congress consider requiring the Coast Guard to include additional information in its Capital Investment Plan. In addition, for the Secretary of DHS to clarify when minimum performance standards should be achieved, conduct C4ISR testing, and develop a long-term modernization plan. DHS concurred with the recommendations, but its position on developing a long-term plan does not fully address GAO's concerns as discussed in the report. >>READ the full report 

 

DHS RELEASES SECOND QUADRENNIAL REVIEW

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its second Quadrennial Review stating it aims to continue securing our nation in the five major areas outlined in the first Quadrennial Review while rising to the challenge presented by emerging threats. The five key areas are to Prevent Terrorism and Enhance Security, Secure and Manage Our Borders, Enforce and Administer Our Immigration Laws, Safeguard and Secure Cyberspace, and Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 illustrate the evolving threats and hazards which the U.S. must constantly learn from, and adapt to.  The report also identifies the maturation of the Nation's homeland security architecture and the need to continue that progress. For example, our law enforcement and intelligence communities are becoming increasingly adept at identifying and disrupting terrorist plotting in this country. Programs such as TSA Pre™ and Global  Entry demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of risk-based security that can be achieved within budget constraints. It is also worth noting that, in late 2013, DHS received its first unqualified or "clean" audit opinion; this occurred just 10 years after the Department's formation, which was the largest realignment and consolidation of Federal Government agencies and functions since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947. >>READ the full report 

 

MOTOROLA TO IMPLEMENT 911 DISPATCHING TECHNOLOGY

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) and Intrado announced the future implementation of an Advanced 9-1-1� (A9-1-1�) system in Burke County, N.C. It also sets in motion the eventual migration to a full NG 9-1-1 system to support text-to-9-1-1 capabilities. The new A9-1-1 system gives Burke County the ability to transfer 9-1-1 calls, along with associated location information and other data, between different county systems seamlessly over an IP system and implement a back-up call center from multiple locations in case of an emergency. The system will effectively cut down response times by minimizing the time it takes for a call to come in to the dispatch center while giving the Burke County dispatch operations center a technological upgrade. >>READ more

RUTGERS FOUNDS INSTITUTE FOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND HOMELAND SECURITY

Rutgers University announced it has founded a new Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security at a conference in New Brunswick. "For the next generation of homeland security professionals, multidisciplined public-private collaboration must be a part of your DNA," said Tom Ridge, the country's first homeland security secretary. The new institute "brings together experts from the broad spectrum of disciplines that exist at Rutgers University - to forge collaborations among those professionals and between Rutgers faculty and entities in the public and private sectors." Rutgers leadership saw a void in homeland security and emergency preparedness research in the private sector and sought to correct this through the creation of the new institute. The institute -- through Rutgers' programs and public-private partnerships -- aims to protect people and property in the event of disasters and emergencies. It will coordinate the university's research, education and readiness initiatives and serve as a single point of access for government agencies, businesses and other groups. The institute also will promote collaborations among Rutgers experts across all statewide locations and in fields that include medicine, public health, life sciences, engineering, physical sciences, humanities, social sciences, public policy, public safety and law.  >>READ more 

 

CYBER PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE TO SOLVE ITSELF

A new study released by the RAND Corporation suggested that while the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals poses a grave risk to national and homeland security, the difficulty of finding qualified cybersecurity candidates is a problem that will likely correct itself. The recently released RAND report,

Hackers Wanted: An Examination of the Cybersecurity Labor Market, confirmed the notion that the shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the US leaves the nation ill-equipped to protect against serious cyberattacks and that this shortcoming could severely threaten national security. RAND examined the current status of the labor market for cybersecurity professionals - with an emphasis on their being employed to defend the United States. This effort was in three parts: first, a review of the literature; second, interviews with managers and educators of cybersecurity professionals, supplemented by reportage; and third, an examination of the economic literature about labor markets. RAND also disaggregated the broad definition of "cybersecurity professionals" to unearth skills differentiation as relevant to this study. In general, we support the use of market forces (and preexisting government programs) to address the strong demand for cybersecurity professionals in the longer run. Increases in educational opportunities and compensation packages will draw more workers into the profession over time. Cybersecurity professionals take time to reach their potential; drastic steps taken today to increase their quantity and quality would not bear fruit for another five to ten years. By then, the current concern over cybersecurity could easily abate, driven by new technology and more secure architectures. Pushing too many people into the profession now could leave an overabundance of highly trained and narrowly skilled individuals who could better be serving national needs in other vocations. >>READ more

JOIN GTSC ON SOCIAL MEDIA



FOLLOW GTSC ON TWITTER
or click the birdie



LIKE GTSC ON FACEBOOK
or click the icon
 

DODNEWSDEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS

VA CITED FOR WAIT TIMES ONCE AGAIN

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not able to track both the length of appointment waiting times and the cost effectiveness of a medical stay for veterans in either an inpatient or outpatient setting. The VA has been plagued with long waiting times for veterans to schedule and meet with doctors over their health, which was the reason why the Government Accountability Office (GAO) carried out its review. GAO's May 2013 report on the oversight and management of the Non-VA Medical Care Program found that the VA does not collect data on wait times veterans face in obtaining care from non-VA providers. The lack of data on wait times limits VA's efforts to effectively oversee the Non-VA Medical Care Program because it is not possible for VA to determine if veterans who receive care from non-VA providers are receiving that care sooner than they would in VA facilities. In addition, GAO found that VA cannot assess the cost-effectiveness of non-VA medical care because it cannot analyze data on all services and charges for an episode of care, which is a combined total of all care provided to a veteran during a single office visit or inpatient stay. As a result, VA cannot determine whether delivering care through non-VA providers is more cost-effective than augmenting its own capacity in areas with high utilization of non-VA medical care.   >>READ the full report 

 

DLA STILL NEEDS IMPROVEMENT WITH INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) developed and met goals for reducing on-hand inventory and on-order excess inventory (i.e., already purchased items that may be excess due to subsequent changes in the services' requirements) and has made progress towards its goals for reducing backorders (shortages of spare parts). These goals in reducing on-hand and on-order inventory strive to reduce waste in the military supply chain, estimated to save billions. DLA disposed of $4 billion in items for a net reduction of $2.5 billion to its on-hand inventory after continued replenishments to achieve its fiscal year 2013 goal of $11.7 billion. DLA used a risk-based approach to identify items to be disposed, resulting, for example, in a reduction of about $657 million in items with no demand in 5 years. Also, DLA has reduced on-order excess inventory from 6.7 percent of the total value of on-order inventory in 2011 to 5.6 percent in 2013, which is progress toward the Department of Defense's (DOD) 4 percent goal by the end of fiscal year 2016. DLA has also reduced backorders by nearly 30 percent through monthly reviews. DLA has implemented several improvement efforts, such as new methods for setting inventory levels and reducing procurement time. However, DLA data shows that its collaborative forecasting effort, which uses customer input to produce forecasts, has not improved aggregate forecast accuracy.   GAO found that although DLA has shown progress toward meeting DOD's goal for reducing on-order excess inventory, without establishing supply-chain goals and monitoring performance it may be challenged to meet its goal of reducing on-order excess to 4 percent by the end of fiscal year 2016.  >>READ the full report 

 

MEDAL OF HONOR AWARDED TO AFGHANISTAN VETERAN

President Barack Obama presented the nation's highest award for battlefield gallantry to retired Marine Corps Cpl. William "Kyle" Carpenter in a White House ceremony. Carpenter is receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions Nov. 21, 2010, in the Marjah district of Afghanistan's Helmand province when enemy fighters attacked Patrol Base Dakota. Cpl. Carpenter threw himself onto a hand grenade while in a firefight with Taliban fighters. Carpenter was born in Flowood, Mississippi, on Oct. 17, 1989, and attended high school at W. Wyman King Academy, Batesburg, South Carolina, graduating in 2008. In February 2009, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and completed his basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, later that year. At the time of his deployment in 2010 to combat duty in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, he was a lance corporal serving as a squad automatic rifleman with Company F, 2nd Battalion. >>READ more

OBAMA SENDS MILITARY ADVISERS TO IRAQ

President Barack Obama announced plans to send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help the government in Baghdad combat a rapid advance by Sunni-led insurgents who have taken over towns and cities and routed Iraqi troops in the north and west of the country, a situation which the president said threatens to plunge Iraq into civil war. "American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq, but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people in the region and American interests as well," Obama said during an appearance in the White House press room, saying the U.S. forces will help train, advise and support Iraqi security forces. The teams will first assess "the state, the cohesiveness and the capability of the Iraqi security forces," said Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby. Kirby said the first few teams, which are not yet operational, will be drawn from personnel already in Iraq, working in U.S. Embassy-Baghdad's Office of Security Cooperation. "The teams will assess and advise. They are not being sent to participate in combat," Kirby reaffirmed, adding that he expects assessment teams beyond the first few to enter the country "over the next week or so." These military advisers may not be combat operational but President Obama did say "We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it," Obama said. This would only occur with permission from the Iraqi government. Earlier this week the Iraqi Government formally asked the U.S. for air force assistance. >>READ more and more 

 

"NEVER CONTRACT WITH THE ENEMY ACT" SEEKS TO WEED OUT CONTRACTORS SUPPORTING TERRORISM

CBO released costs estimates on the "Never Contract with the Enemy Act" (S. 675), a bipartisan bill that would provide the necessary authorities for the Federal government to disbar and sever contracts with contractors funneling funds to those who oppose the United States.  CBO estimates that providing access to the list of enemy supporters and authorizing other federal agencies to cancel contracts and disbar contractors would have discretionary costs of less than $500,000 over the 2015-2019 period.  The bill builds on improvements made in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act after a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report identified several areas where the Defense Department can better implement these authorities." S. 675 would require DoD to develop a program under which information on those entities found to be aiding the enemy may be provided to other federal agencies. The bill would authorize all federal agencies to cancel contractual agreements with such entities and to bar them from receiving additional contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements with the federal government. The bill also would require annual reports on the use of the authority during the 2016-2018 period." >>READ the release 

 

THE COST OF SECURITY CLEARANCE ACCOUNTABILITY

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a cost estimate for Security Clearance Accountability, Reform, and Enhancement Act (S. 1744). The bill would require the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to terminate or place on administrative leave any OPM employee that is involved in misconduct involving the security clearance process and debar employees of contractors and subcontractors involved in similar misconduct. Based on information from OPM, CBO estimates that implementing this legislation would have an insignificant cost.  A security clearance is a determination that an individual (whether a federal employee or contractor) is eligible for access to classified national security information. Granted only by a federal agency, and generally only upon completion of a background investigation, most are overseen by OPM's Federal Investigative Services (actual investigations may be conducted by private investigative firms)."  >>READ the release 

 

MILITARY HEALTH REVIEW BEGINS 

The first of seven site visits of the Military Health System review was initiated at Naval Medical Center San Diego, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on May 27 ordered a comprehensive, 90-day review of the Military Health system to examine access to care, and assess the safety and quality of health care in military treatment facilities and DOD-purchased health care from civilian providers, officials said. The secretary based the need for the review on efforts to continually review and improve military health care. The review comes amid many high profile scandals involving the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wait times for veterans attempting to see medical doctors in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The wait times are being investigated because they are alleged to have led to 40 premature deaths of veterans. Kirby said DOD has "identified seven military treatment facilities" that will participate in the site visits of this review. In addition to Naval Medical Center San Diego, they are: Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; the Air Force Academy Cadet Clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Winn Army community Hospital at Fort Stewart, Georgia; Royal Air Force Lakenheath Hospital, 48th Medical Group, Suffolk, England; Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland; and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The review team sought a diverse survey by branch of service, geography, medical facility size in terms of select access, quality, and safety performance measures, which was a "deliberate decision," Kirby said. >>READ more 

 

CHANGES TO NUCLEAR FORCE STRUCTURE

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James outlined new incentives and measures designed to change the culture of the service's nuclear force. Following a cheating scandal involving intercontinental ballistic missile launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and the subsequent relief of nine officers, a commander's retirement and 91 other airmen receiving discipline, James touched on ways the Air Force has begun to address "systemic issues. I do think this is more than a single issue," she said in remarks at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. "As I've said before, I do think we need some holistic fixes for the nuclear force. This is not something that happened in the last year or two, or even 10. It's probably been happening gradually over the last 25 years." James continued to say, the nuclear will receive $50 million dollars this year with another $350 million over the next 5 years to expand personnel, make improvements to force infrastructure and to improve training and education of servicemen. "When you're undermanned, that means the existing people have to work harder," she said. "That impacts morale and it could impact other things as well. We have, right now, already directed 1,100 additional people are going to be inserted into the nuclear force to get those manning levels up." They principally will be in the field, she said, and the Air Force is going to 100-percent manning in the eight critical nuclear specialties. Air Force officials have lifted some of the ongoing service wide manpower reductions to add people back into the nuclear force, she added. Along with those adjustments, the secretary noted, she has called for elevating the Global Strike Command commander's position to the four-star level and that the related major general position on the Air Force staff be made a lieutenant general position. "We want to up the rank of the nuclear forces within the Air Force," she said. "Rank matters in the military, so that's another thing that we're doing." Additionally, James said, the testing environment that produced the cheating scandal has been revamped, and the inspections environment will also see changes. >>READ more 

 

OVERALL AIR FORCE READINESS HAS ATROPHIED

While elements of the Air Force are always prepared to meet the country's readiness needs, total force readiness has deteriorated, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told the Defense Writers Group. Nearing the six-month mark of her term as the Air Force's top official, James touched on appropriately balancing the readiness of the force as part of her three top priorities. "The readiness of today ... is just absolutely crucial," she said. It means having the right training and equipment, she said, and it means having people prepared to step up to the plate no matter what. "Today, if necessary to go do what the nation would call upon us to do, we're dealing with the situation in Iraq," she said. "If we had been together a month ago, you might have been very interested in talking about Ukraine. The point is you never know what is going to happen. The point is you've got to be ready. Our readiness in the Air Force, as a total force over the years, has atrophied -- that is to say the full spectrum of our readiness." Getting that balance correct is important, James said, but it is a difficult business, because it all comes down to money and where it will be spent in a tough budget environment. James continued to say in order to strike the right balance in overall readiness; some tough decisions had to be made, for example, retiring older air force weapons systems and fleets such as the A-10 Warthog or the U2 Spy plane fleets. "We don't know whether Congress will agree to this at the end of the day, but we have to make those tough decisions [and] reduce force structure in some areas in order to pay for this."  In addition to cutting weapons programs, there will also have to be a reshaping of force personnel. Part of shaping the force will come by downsizing through both voluntary and involuntary means. James said appropriately balancing the active duty, Reserve and National Guard components also is part of taking care of people.  "As we're reshaping and downsizing," she said, "we want to take advantage of the best capabilities of all three of those components and the fourth component as well: our civilians." >>READ more 

 

SEQUESTRATION FURLOUGH COST ANALYSIS

When the Department of Defense (DOD) furloughed its employees during the government shutdown in October 2013, better and more up to date information could have better influenced DOD leadership and increased cost savings, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found. In January 2013, the Department of Defense (DOD) instructed components to plan for the possibility of up to a 22-day administrative furlough of civilian personnel. On May 14, 2013, the Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum directing up to an 11-day furlough of most of DOD's civilians, and on August 6, 2013, reduced the number of furlough days to 6, resulting in a cost savings of about $1 billion from civilian pay, excluding implementation costs. DOD officials stated the decision to reduce the number of furlough days was due to DOD gaining greater flexibility from fund transfers and reprogrammings that occurred towards the end of the fiscal year. DOD identified categories of furlough exceptions for personnel including those assigned to a combat zone and those necessary to protect safety of life and property. Clarifying guidance was issued to help ensure that borrowed military personnel were not used to compensate for work resulting from the furlough, and to prohibit contracted support from being assigned or permitted to perform additional work or duties to compensate for workload or productivity loss resulting from the furlough. Ultimately, DOD furloughed 624,404 civilians and excepted 142,602 civilians for 6 days.

 

DOD developed its initial estimated cost savings for the furlough without excluding pay for those excepted from the furlough and did not update its estimate throughout the furlough period as more information became available, such as real-time cost savings and when subsequent decisions were made to reduce the number of furlough days. The initial estimated cost savings were calculated at $300 per person per furlough day, totaling about $2.1 billion for 11 furlough days. When DOD reduced the furlough from 11 to 6 days, the estimated cost savings were reduced by about $900 million. However, the estimated savings per person per day was not updated to reflect actual payroll reductions, in part because, according to DOD officials, there was only 1 weeks' worth of payroll data available at the time the decision was made. While officials stated that the estimated savings per person per day was not updated because they thought it was sufficient for their purposes and that the decision to reduce the number of furlough days was primarily based on funding received from transfers and reprogramming actions, the determination of exceptions was made 3 months earlier. If this initial estimate had been updated it may have provided more-comprehensive information for DOD officials to consider regarding the length of the furlough and DOD's cost-savings estimate. As DOD continues to face budgetary uncertainty, and in the event of a future furlough, having comprehensive and updated cost information may help better inform decision makers. >>READ the full report 

 

TRICARE REVIEW OF WESTERN REGION

GAO has found that UnitedHealth, recently awarded the West Region of TRICARE, is having tremendous difficulty providing contracted services.  The recent transition of TRICARE's managed care support contractors in the West region did not go smoothly and highlighted numerous deficiencies in guidance and oversight by the TRICARE Management Activity (TMA)-the Department of Defense's (DOD) office responsible for awarding and managing these contracts at the time of GAO's review.  GAO also found that TMA's inadequate guidance and insufficient oversight contributed to problems with health care delivery -- even leading to a waiver of referral authorizations for specialty care -- to keep things moving. UnitedHealth was also unprepared for the volume of calls and did not meet its contract requirements until the third month of service.  TMA has addressed these issues through the use of corrective action requests and financial penalties. >>READ the full report 

DOSnewsDEPARTMENT OF STATE NEWS
DOS NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN EASTERN AFRICA

GAO conducted a review of fund allocation for the Department of State (DOS) Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT) program. PREACT supports U.S. counterterrorism efforts in East Africa through five goals: focus on improving partner nations' military capacity, rule of law, border security, ability to counter violent extremism, and ability to counter terrorist financing. PREACT has funded activities such as providing training for terrorist investigation techniques for Somali police, new communications equipment for the Ethiopian military, and computer literacy to teachers working with at-risk youth in Kenya. PREACT assistance is in addition to other U.S. counterterrorism assistance to East Africa and peacekeeping and stability efforts in Somalia. As of November 1, 2013, State reported disbursing $42.3 million of the $104 million allocated for PREACT from fiscal years 2009 through 2013. Since 2009, State allocated PREACT assistance to countries near Somalia, as shown below.

 

GAO found that the State Department considers key factors in managing PREACT but lacks comprehensive documentation of factors considered when selecting activities and does not routinely maintain information on the status of PREACT activities or funding. Presidential Policy Directive 23 highlights key factors-partner country needs, absorptive capacity, sustainment capacity, U.S. efforts, and other donor efforts-as critical to building partner capacity and focusing limited resources. State reported considering these key factors when selecting PREACT activities. However, State did not consistently document its consideration of the five factors. In addition, State's Foreign Affairs Manual calls for managers to collect program information to inform decision making and reporting. However, State does not routinely collect PREACT activity and financial information from implementing partners to enable it to have complete information needed to inform program management and accurately report on PREACT. For example, GAO discovered that State mistakenly allocated PREACT funds to Mauritius, which is not a PREACT partner, and the managing bureau was unaware of $3 million in un-obligated balances in Antiterrorism Assistance that are no longer available for obligation. Routinely collecting such information, as the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government calls for, could enhance PREACT managers' ability to make operating decisions, monitor performance, and allocate resources. >>READ the full report 

 

DOS RELEASES HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORT

The Department of State (DOS) released its 500 page, annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2014 that tells the stories of victims caught in modern-day slavery and/or sexual exploitation.  "Trafficking in persons" and "human trafficking" have been used as umbrella terms for the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-386), as amended, and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Protocol), describe this compelled service using a number of different terms, including involuntary servitude, slavery or practices similar to slavery, debt bondage, and forced labor.  The report catalogues countries participating in global efforts to combat trafficking, child sex slavery, child soldiers and many other human rights abuses.  The report also provides data on trafficking investigations, convictions and sentences which shows an increase of victims identified from nearly 31,000 in 2008 to nearly 45,000 in 2013.  The provided global law enforcement data also shows prosecutions and conviction numbers.  Additionally, the report lists all countries in tiers, according to their placement in compliance with TVPA requirements.  >>READ the Report 
justicenewsDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE NEWS 

POTUS TO END DISCRIMINATION AMONG GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS

President Obama will issue an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, according to the White House. This comes after months of pressure by lawmakers for Obama to go around Congress. Nearly 200 lawmakers signed a March 18 letter to the White House urging the administration to take action on its own.  Last year, in the United States v. Windsor case, Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was refuted.  Section 3 prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. In addition, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a memorandum to the White House on Friday, June 20 reporting the efforts made in implementing non-discriminatory action across all federal agencies. The memorandum stated "Section 3 applied to "over 1,000 federal laws in which marital or spousal status is addressed as a matter of federal law,' and by its great reach, touched many aspects of married and family life, from the mundane to the profound.' As a result, eliminating Section 3's injurious effects on the same-sex marriage couples required an unprecedented effort spanning nearly every federal agency." >>READ the memo

 

KHATALLAH CHARGED FOR BENGHAZI ATTACK

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatalah, a Libyan national approximately 43 years of age, has been charged for his alleged participation in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Special Mission and Annex in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans. Khatallah was captured in a special operations raid in Benghazi early last week. Libya has condemned the raid as illegal. Attorney General, Eric Holder said "Our nation's memory is long and our reach is far. The arrest of Ahmed Abu Khatallah represents a significant milestone in our efforts to ensure justice is served for the heinous and cowardly attack on our facilities in Benghazi.  Since that attack - which caused the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty - we have conducted a thorough, unrelenting investigation, across continents, to find the perpetrators.  The arrest of Khatallah proves that the U.S. government will expend any effort necessary to pursue terrorists who harm our citizens. Khatallah currently faces criminal charges on three counts, and we retain the option of adding additional charges in the coming days.  Even as we begin the process of putting Khatallah on trial and seeking his conviction before a jury, our investigation will remain ongoing as we work to identify and arrest any co-conspirators. This is our pledge; we owe the victims of the Benghazi attack and their loved ones nothing less." Khatallah has been charged with:

  • Killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility involving the use of a firearm and dangerous weapon and attempting and conspiring to do the same.
  • Providing, attempting and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists resulting in death.
  • Discharging, brandishing, using, carrying and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.  >>READ more

FBI BUYS 3D PRINTER FOR IED RESEARCH

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced its purchase of a Stratasys Objet24 3D printer set to cost $19,000. The 3D printer is set to be used for research purposes for Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's). The FBI will look at ways 3D printers can be used to partially design and construct explosive materials. IED's are commonly placed in public settings like markets or restaurants and are disguised as garbage or placed inside cars. With the versatility of a 3D printer, any object could be printed by the machine to house explosive materials intended to harm innocent bystanders or military personnel. 3D printers have recently come into the full few of the public when last year, a man designed, built his own hand gun using a 3D printer, which he then uploaded the designs to the internet. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) removed the designs from the internet, but only after the designs had been downloaded over 100,000 times. The FBI is going to continue to look at emerging systems and technologies which could be utilized by extremists to cause terror. >>READ more

INTELNewsINTEL NEWS 

CIVILIAN INTELLIGENCE CONTRACTORS REVIEW

GAO has found that the IC does not have a good understanding of its civilian contractor personnel across its civilian departments.  The Intelligence Community (IC) uses core contract personnel to augment its workforce that typically work alongside government personnel and perform staff-like work. Some core contract personnel have come under enhanced scrutiny because they perform services that could significantly influence the government's decision making. Limitations in the IC's inventory of contract personnel hinder the ability to determine the extent to which the eight civilian IC elements-the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and six components within the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and the Treasury-use these personnel. The IC Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) conducts an annual inventory of core contract personnel that includes information on the number and costs of these personnel. However, GAO identified a number of limitations in the inventory that collectively limit the comparability, accuracy, and consistency of the information reported by the civilian IC elements as a whole. 

 

Collectively, CIA, ODNI, and the departments responsible for developing policies to address risks related to contractors for the other six civilian IC elements have made limited progress in developing those policies, and the civilian IC elements have generally not developed strategic workforce plans that address contractor use. Only the Departments of Homeland Security and State have issued policies that generally address all of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's requirements related to contracting for services that could affect the government's decision-making authority. Further, the inventory does not provide insight into the functions performed by contractors, in particular those that could inappropriately influence the government's control over its decisions. GAO concluded that without complete and accurate information in the inventory on the extent to which contractors are performing specific functions, the elements may be missing an opportunity to leverage the inventory as a tool for conducting strategic workforce planning and for prioritizing contracts that may require increased management attention and oversight. >>READ the full report 

 

BILL TO REQUIRE WARRANTS FOR EMAIL GAINS TRACTION IN THE HOUSE

The Email Privacy Act (HR 1852) has gained majority support in the House of Representatives. Critics have argued the current law governing online communications, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 has been outdated. Under ECPA, police are able to access information in the possession of third party vendors without warrants. HR 1852 would update this law to include new provisions, closing this hole in personal privacy. The bill, introduced last year by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) would:

  • Affirm that Americans have reasonable expectation of privacy in their email accounts and other personal and professional content stored online.
  • Require the government to get a search warrant based on a showing of probable cause in order to compel a service provider to disclose communications that are not readily accessible to the public with -- regardless of the age of the communications or the means of their storage
  • Preserve the legal tools necessary to conduct criminal investigations and protect the public, (Nothing in the bill alters warrant requirements under the Wiretap Act, FISA, or any other law)>>READ more 

ODNI AND DOJ CALL FOR CHANGES TO FISA

The Department of Justice (DOJ) in conjunction with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) updated their progress on implementing the President's directive to end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program and establish a mechanism to preserve needed capabilities without the government holding this bulk data. In February, DOJ working with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) implemented the requirement that data only be queried after a judicial finding that there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the selection term is associated with an approved international terrorist organization. Additionally, query results were limited to metadata within two hops of the selection term instead of three. These two changes were completed in February 2014. In addition to directing those immediate changes to the program, the President also directed the Intelligence Community and the Attorney General to develop options for a new approach to match the capabilities and fill gaps that the Section 215 program was designed to address without the government holding this metadata. After carefully considering the available options, the President announced in March that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk, and that it remain at the telephone companies with a legal mechanism in place which would allow the government to obtain data pursuant to individual orders from the FISC approving the use of specific numbers for such queries. The President also noted that legislation would be required to implement this option and called on Congress to enact this important change to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)." >>READ the full remarks 

>>White House Fact Sheet on Ending the Meta Data Program

 

fedcornerFED CORNER:  SUZANNE SPAULDING
Suzanne Spaulding
Under Secretary, National Protection & Programs Directorate, DHS
 

Suzanne E. Spaulding serves as Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security.  As Under Secretary, she oversees the coordinated operational and policy functions of the Directorate's subcomponents: Offices of Cybersecurity and Communications, Infrastructure Protection, Biometric Identity Management, Cyber and Infrastructure Analysis, and the Federal Protective Service, with a mission to reduce the risk to -- and enhance the resiliency of -- critical infrastructure, secure Federal facilities, and advance identity management and verification.

 

Ms. Spaulding has spent nearly 25 years working on national security issues for both Republican and Democratic Administrations and on both sides of the aisle of Congress. She was most recently a principal in the Bingham Consulting Group and Counsel for Bingham McCutchen LLP in Washington, D.C.  Prior to joining the private sector, she served as the minority staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for Ranking Member Jane Harman (D-CA), and as general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and served as senior counsel and legislative director for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (PA).

 

In 2002, she was appointed by Virginia Governor Mark Warner to the Secure Commonwealth Panel, established after the attacks of September 11,  2001, to advise the governor and the legislature on preparedness issues in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Since then, Ms. Spaulding has worked with key critical infrastructure sectors including the nuclear power, electricity, and chemical sectors, and served as Security Counsel for the Business Roundtable.

 

In addition, Ms. Spaulding served as the executive director of two congressionally mandated commissions: the National Commission on Terrorism, chaired by Amb. L. Paul Bremer III, and the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, chaired by former CIA Director John Deutch. She was assistant general counsel at CIA, including a position as legal adviser to the Nonproliferation Center, and also spent several years in private practice.

In addition to running national commissions on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, she has served on commissions on cybersecurity and homeland security, convened and participated in numerous academic and professional advisory panels, and is a frequent commentator in publications, media, and before Congress.

 

Ms. Spaulding was a Senior Fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute. She is the former Chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, and founder of the Cybersecurity Legal Task Force.

newsofnoteNEWS OF NOTE

New Generation of Terrorists 

In just three years, 12,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria to fight, according to a new report by the Soufan Group - and most arrive already steeped in extremism. The civil war in Syria already appears to have drawn more foreign fighters than the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and may prove an even more dangerous incubator for terrorism in the long run, according to a new report by a private security company. >>READ more 


House Votes to Boost Border Security
The House on Wednesday gave voice vote approval to a proposal from Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) that would increase funding for the Army National Guard to assist with border security. Lamborn's amendment to the 2015 Defense appropriations bill would boost the Army National Guard's budget by $5 million by offsetting the same amount from the Defense Department's administration operations account. >>READ more

 

 

CDC Exposure to Anthrax

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Thursday that approximately 75 Atlanta-based staff are being monitored or provided antibiotics because they may have been unintentionally exposed to live Bacillus anthracis "after established safety practices were not followed." >>READ more 

 

FAA and Boeing 747 hackers

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered Boeing to modify technology found aboard 737 aircrafts that could be vulnerable to computer hackers. The FAA's order, which was released in the Federal Register, is effective immediately, although the agency is allowing a comment period until July 21. >>READ more

 

GSA Moves Forward With DHS Consolidation

The General Services Administration issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) June 16 for the construction of the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in southeast Washington. The $140 million contract is for the "Center Building" on the 176-acre St. Elizabeth's campus that will house the secretary and headquarter administrative functions. The completion date for the project is July 1, 2017.GSA expects to award the contract in August. >>READ more

  

NEWS OF NOTE FOLLOW UP:

 

Bergdahl Investigation

The Army has appointed a general officer with Afghanistan combat experience to lead its investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the disappearance and capture of Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl from Combat Outpost Mest-Lalak in Afghanistan's Paktika province on or about June 30, 2009. >>READ more

 

VA to Search for New Scheduling System 

The VA on June 18 held an industry day to brief potential vendors on the upcoming acquisition, the first of several face-to-face meetings designed to convey the VA's needs and get private-sector feedback and ideas. >>READ more 

 

Republican Leadership Upset in Congress

Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in the Primaries to the under-funded, political novice Dave Brat. Brat had gained the support of Tea Party movement in Virginia. >>READ more 

 

 

quote
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:   

 


It's About the Mission. The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6), non-partisan association of innovative, agile small and midsized company CEOs that create, develop, and implement solutions for the Federal homeland and national security sector. These companies founded the Coalition to band together to work with their Federal partners to achieve their mission despite significant budget challenges by bringing the innovation, creativity and exceptionalism of successful small businesses to the homeland and national security mission.   
Our vision is to provide an ethical, effective platform for information exchange between the public and private sector on homeland and national security ideas, technologies and innovations.
Our mission is to provide exceptional advocacy, capacity building, partnership opportunities and marketing in the Federal security space for small and mid-sized companies, and to support and assist our government partners achieve their critical missions with the highest integrity; best and most innovative technologies; and results-based, quality products and services to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from any terrorist attack or natural disaster.
 

Connect with GTSC to get news, latest events and expand your network!

Like us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   View our profile on LinkedIn