A review of the FBI’s efforts to mitigate national security cyber incidents found that some field agents tasked with investigating these cases lack the technical skills and expertise to effectively do their jobs. The redacted version of the report, released Wednesday by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, examined the ability of the FBI-led National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force to defend against attacks on U.S. computer networks and efforts by the FBI field offices to investigate these attacks. Of the 36 agents interviewed in 10 of the FBI’s field offices, 13 said they do not have the…
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After voicing worries about the government’s reaction to the WikiLeaks breaches, a coalition of nine advocacy groups recently got a reply from White House budget director Jack Lew. At least one, though, found the answer a bit puzzling. The coalition, which includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association and the Project on Government Oversight, had written Lew in January after his office posted a long checklist of instructions on how agencies should assess procedures for protecting classified information. By a literal reading, those instructions appeared to require any agency with classification authority to profile employees for “trustworthiness,”…
So a provision that had floated around earlier spending bills and continuing resolutions has made it into the appropriations bill that gives agencies funding for the rest of the year. Specifically, it prohibits NASA from working in any with China, on anything. At all. It also prohibits NASA from hosting official visitors from China. According to a NASA spokesman, the agency is following the law and conducting a larger assessment on what it would mean for the agency.It has already caused the cancellation of some projects too. From the same spokesman. The agency currently has only one active agreement with…
Apparently $600,000 is too steep a price to pay for a 10-foot tall statute of a faerie riding a toad. The Army has decided that it will drop its plans for a sculpture and two murals near its new Mark Center location in Alexandria. Sen. Chuck Grassley had opposed the project and said it was too much to pay to put art near a bus station located next to the facility. According to the “Washington Whispers” blog from US News, A pleased Grassley said, “The Army was ready to spend $600,000 on three pieces of questionable art, just when the…
The Government Printing Office has named Charles Riddle its new chief information officer. Riddle, former chief technology officer at the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety Inspection Service, said he looks forward to ensuring GPO provides Congress, agencies and the public with the latest technological tools. As CIO, he will oversee IT policies and standards and develop operating budgets for network systems. GPO’s former CIO, Mike Wash, now oversees IT operations at the National Archives and Records Administration and was credited with launching the Federal Digital System, according to article that ran in the Washington Post. The system allows GPO to receive…
More evidence–as if more were needed–that this government spending standoff is getting serious: the Office of Management and Budget has just posted a 16-page memo for shutdown planning on its web site. Lots of technical advice for agencies on topics like travel, IT operations and contracting. The latest stopgap spending resolution expires at midnight Friday. If Congress appears unlikely to enact a new one Saturday, OMB will issue instructions the same day “for agencies to proceed with their shutdown implementation,” Director Jack Lew wrote in the memo. On one burning question, OMB leaves it up to agencies to decide whether…
The Washington Post has a good look at the current budget negotiations. But the most interesting part for federal workers probably comes quite deep into the story, when House Speaker John Boehner told members of his own party about the possibility of a shut down (emphasis mine). House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown. That is probably not the best sign.
The federal financial crunch has claimed another casualty: As of Tuesday, the Social Security Administration is no longer sending out annual earnings and benefits statements to millions of Americans, according to an internal notice. “Effective immediately, SSA is suspending the mailing of all Social Security statements because of the current budget situation,” the notice says. The online service for requesting a statement has also been disabled, the notice continues. Nor can the public use Form SSA-7004 to make a request. Indeed, type “statement” into the search engine on the Social Security Administration’s web site, and you’ll end up at a…
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology wants to know what you think about its four-year strategic plan for health IT. The plan isn’t entirely new but rather updates an earlier version ONC released in June 2008. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires ONC to revise and republish that plan. ONC will accept public comments through April 22. “The adoption and meaningful use of EHRs is the unifying focal point of our strategy,” said National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal. “However, meaningful use is necessary, but not sufficient, to harness the power of health…
The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced March 17 that federal agencies, along with members of the public, can nominate projects that would encourage innovation and transparency within the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Federal workers can nominate any proposed project that would help create more efficient environmental reviews, according to CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley. Nominations are due June 15 and can be submitted to the CEQ website at http://whitehouse.gov/adminiatration/eop/ceq/initiatives/nepa/nepa-pilot-project.com