FederalDaily - August 21, 2006

OSC Orders DHS to Investigate Air Marshal’s Claim

A watchdog group representing an air marshal whistleblower on Aug. 17 said the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has ordered the investigation of the whistleblower’s claim that mismanagement within the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) has compromised the safety of air marshals and the public. Whistleblower Frank Terreri, a federal air marshal and a client of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), in April filed a petition with OSC that accused FAMS of alleged gross mismanagement and other violations. Terreri claimed the agency had made repeated disclosures of operational tactics and FAMS policies that compromised the identity of individual air marshals, and created a threat to aviation security. GAP on Aug. 17 also released a copy of an Aug. 10 letter from OSC to Terreri, in which OSC said it had given Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff 60 days to conduct an investigation of the allegations and
report back to OSC. To see a copy of the letter, go to: www.whistleblower.org/doc/osc%20to%20terreri%208.10.06.pdf

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USCIS Launches New Records Facility

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Aug. 18 that it will establish a new records digitization facility in Williamsburg, Ky. The agency said it expects to use the facility to digitize more than 1 million USCIS alien files during the first phase of the effort. USCIS said that while the number of files slated to be digitized during the first phase represents “a relatively small percentage” of the approximately 70 million immigration records on file, the agency plans to use the newly digitized files as the start of a larger effort to transform its business processes. According to USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez, the digitized files—which can be made available to multiple users at once—will help the agency speed up service to customers, “and simultaneously enhance our national security capabilities and protections against fraud and illegal activity.” USCIS said Congress has allotted funds to digitize about 1 million files a year.

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DOE, Industry to Study Clean Hydrogen

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced Aug. 14 that it planned to dedicate about $1.4 million to two projects in which the agency would partner with industry to study the feasibility of producing hydrogen at commercial nuclear power plants. Electric Transportation Applications (ETA) and GE Global Research (GEGR) would head up the teams. ETA will link up with DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory and Arizona Public Service to study the economics of producing hydrogen at existing nuclear power plants using commercially available production technology. GEGR will partner with DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab and the Entergy Corp., and has proposed a feasibility study of hydrogen production using alkaline electrolysis powered by existing nuclear power plants. Funding is provided by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative. The industry partners will share a minimum of 20 percent of the cost.

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