FederalDaily.com > President Requests Funding for Border Patrol Agents

FederalDaily - May 22, 2006

President Requests Funding for Border Patrol Agents

The president sent Congress a request last week for $1.948 billion in emergency funding to help secure the country’s borders, the White House announced. The request includes funding ($235 million) for the first 1,000 of 6,000 new Border Patrol agents that will be deployed in the next two years, as well as the resources to train them. It also includes funding for:

the temporary deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to assist the Border Patrol with surveillance and logistics and new border security technology and infrastructure;

$50 million for additional recruiting and expanded training capacity at the Border Patrol Academy;

$25 million to expand the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; and

$20 million for additional office staff to free-up agents for law enforcement duties.

Funding for 1,500 additional agents was included in the president’s fiscal year 2007 budget and funding for 3,500 agents will be sought over the next two years, in order to deploy 6,000 new agents by the end of 2008, the White House said.

GAO Examines DoD Security Clearance Issues

The Department of Defense (DoD) faces several impediments to effectively processing security clearances—including an ongoing dispute with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). A new GAO report said in January 2006 DoD challenged the need for OPM to continue charging a 25 percent premium for handling investigations. The inspectors general for each agency are conducting an investigation into the matter, GAO said. Other clearance issues identified by GAO include:

the July 1, 2006, expiration of Executive Order 13381, which made the Office of Management and Budget responsible for improving security clearance processing governmentwide;

demand for top secret clearances for contractors; and

lack of agency reciprocity.

The reciprocity problem has continued despite standard government guidance issued in 1997, GAO said, and places further burden on investigative staff. To read the report, go to www.gao.gov/new.items/d06747t.pdf.

Focus on Military Family Financial Services

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a May 18 hearing to verify whether the Department of Defense (DoD) does enough to help servicemembers in need of financial services. Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., head of the subcommittee, found that several improvements are needed. “DoD recordkeeping is poor, performance measures are non-existent, and the DoD has not used its position on the Financial Literacy Education Commission…to develop systemic programs for protecting military members,” Kelly said. The issue arose soon after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the subject became public. According to GAO, DoD has not provided the necessary oversight of financial assistance programs to ensure that they are effective. In addition, servicemembers see the assistance process as too cumbersome and worry that admitting financial difficulties could hinder career progress. The GAO report is available at www.gao.gov/new.items/d06749t.pdf.

Computers from Chinese Company Hold Unclassified Info

The Department of State confirmed that computers purchased from a company based in China would not be used for classified information, according to a letter from State to Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. Wolf—chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science and the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce—first expressed concern about the issue in April. According to a statement from Wolf, the U.S.-China Commission alerted him of the purchase of 16,000 personal computers from a China-based company as part of State’s information technology modernization effort. Wolf said he was “deeply troubled” to learn that 900 of the computers would be used in a soon-to-be-deployed classified network. But State responded to Wolf’s concerns saying, “…The Bureau of Diplomatic Security has consulted with U.S. Government security experts and is recommending that the computers purchased last fall be utilized on unclassified systems only.”