FederalDaily - June 27, 2006

Federal Agent Killed During Arrest Attempt

Two federal law enforcement officers were killed and another was injured during a gunfight at the Federal Detention Center in Tallahassee, Fla., that erupted this past Wednesday as authorities attempted to arrest six indicted Bureau of Prisons (BOP) employees. According to a statement from BOP, agents arrested five of the six indicted BOP officials. Ralph Hill, the other indicted correctional officer, used a personally-owned weapon to open fire on the agents. The injured officer—a BOP lieutenant—remained in stable condition. BOP verified that the incident took place outside of the secure area of the prison, and no inmates or civilians were involved. In addition, it is against agency policy to bring a personal firearm to the workplace.

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Federal Data Accountability Bill Proposed

Federal employees that remove personal information from a government database without authorization could be subject to heavy fines and prison time under new legislation proposed in both the U.S. House and Senate. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.—sponsor of the House version—hoped that such a provision may deter a repeat of the recent Department of Veterans Affairs personal data loss incident. If passed, H.R. 5661 would prohibit the unauthorized removal or use of personal information in a government database. “I believe that this would send the message that any federal worker or contractor who knowingly removes personal information without prior authorization from a federal database would be doing so at great risk,” Brown said in a June 23 statement. Under the bill, a violation could result in one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

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New FOIA Guidelines for OPM

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) unveiled a detailed plan to improve its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) processing last week. As required by Executive Order 13392, OPM reviewed its FOIA operations and identified several priority areas for improvement, including:

• expedited processing,
• automated request tracking and processing,
• increased FOIA staffing, and
• improved intra-agency communications about FOIA responsibilities.

According to OPM’s review, the agency handled 4,594 FOIA requests in fiscal year 2005, processing 4,518 within the statutory time limit. OPM has imposed a deadline of Dec. 31, 2006, to improve high priority areas, and a deadline of Dec. 31, 2007, to improve most other deficient areas.

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Security Clearance Costs, Delays Worsen

A survey of private sector and government respondents asked about their experiences in obtaining security clearances for employees reveals worsening delays and costs in the process. The web-based, self-selected poll brought 665 responses, with 55 percent of companies reporting that the clearance process “has gotten worse or stayed the same during the last year.” Fully 22 percent of the companies said that rising demand and delays in processing cost them $1 million or more. With 33 percent of companies reporting that even interim clearances take 90 days or more, high premiums are being paid for cleared prospects. The CIA, FBI and the Department of Energy (DOE) are reported as the hardest federal agencies to clear.  The online poll was conducted by a coalition of industry trade associations and Federal Computer Week.

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