FederalDaily - July 19, 2005
DHS Personnel System Delayed for 2 Weeks
At the suggestion of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on July 15 notified the court that
it would withhold implementation of major portions of its proposed new personnel
regulations until Aug. 15. Implementation was originally scheduled for Aug.
1. During the hearing, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer suggested that DHS delay implementation
so that she could more thoroughly investigate the legality of the personnel
rules. Unions have been fighting the changes, saying the new personnel rules
would strip employees of their collective bargaining rights and would have
negative effects on employees' pay and appeals rights.
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Senate, House Pass DHS Appropriations Bill
The Senate on July 14 approved a $31.86 billion Homeland Security Appropriations
Bill (H.R. 2360) for fiscal year 2006 by a vote of 96 to 1. Provisions in the
bill include:
- $5.9 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection including
funds for additional border patrol agents and port/container
security;
- $3.8 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement including
money for additional immigration enforcement agents and investigators;
- $2.9 billion for Emergency Preparedness and Response activities;
and
- $1.4 billion for Science & Technology to support research,
prototypes and procurement of systems to mitigate the effects
of weapons of mass destruction.
The House passed its Homeland Security Appropriations bill on May 17. The
Senate bill will now go to a House-Senate conference.
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Permanently Boosting Military/Veterans’ Life
Insurance
The maximum coverage for Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI)
and Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) will be permanently boosted
to $400,000 by a bill marked up in the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
earlier this month. H.R. 3200, the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance Enhancement
Act of 2005, increases the maximum coverage available to servicemembers and
veterans from the current $250,000 ceiling to $400,000. These increases
were enacted earlier this year in the war supplemental appropriations act—but
they were set to expire on Sept. 30, 2005. H.R. 3200 will make them permanent.
The bill also boosts the incremental increases in both of these life insurance
programs from the current $10,000 to $50,000. It has not yet become law.
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Better Protection Needed from Foreign Contractors
The Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Security Service (DSS) is responsible
for ensuring that U.S. contractors safeguard classified information in their
possession. Some U.S. contractors have foreign connections. A new Government
Accountability Office (GAO) report said that means extra efforts may be required
to reduce the risk of foreign interests gaining access to classified information.
But GAO found that DSS cannot ensure that it is sufficiently reducing the risk
of foreign interests gaining access to classified information. DSS does not
systematically ask for, collect or analyze information on foreign business
transactions in adequate ways, GAO said. GAO recommended that DSS formulate
a human capital strategy to evaluate whether its staff needs better information,
training and tools, but DoD did not concur with GAO’s recommendations
and stated the process is sufficient.
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