FederalDaily - September 26, 2007
DHS Top Deputy Resigns
The No. 2 official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced his resignation Sept. 24.
Deputy Secretary Michael P. Jackson, who came to DHS in March 2005, plans to return to work in the
private sector. Jackson, whose resignation is effective Oct. 26, has had a major hand in running the
department—particularly in putting in place the current management team. Prior to coming to DHS,
while deputy secretary at the Department of Transportation between 2001 and 2003, Jackson also helped
set up the Transportation Security Administration. “He is a remarkable chief operating officer,
my most trusted counselor and a close personal friend,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Michael
is an outstanding public servant, among the best of his generation.” To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1190660057092.shtm
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Group Says Audit Supports Whistleblower’s Claims
An environmental employees advocacy group says a July Department of Interior (DOI) internal audit
supports the claims of an agency whistleblower who was threatened with firing after he revealed that
DOI badly mismanaged Indian properties under its jurisdiction. A copy of the audit, released Sept.
24 by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), supports allegations made by DOI
Attorney Robert McCarthy, the group said. McCarthy—the chief DOI legal officer in Southern California
responsible for overseeing management of properties of individual members of Indian tribes held in
trust by the agency—documented massive losses due to agency missteps that are costing those Native
Americans millions of dollars a month in lost revenues. The agency has threatened to fire McCarthy
for releasing the results of his investigations. PEER said that findings in the July audit—Indian
Trust Investigative Review, by the DOI Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians—vindicate
McCarthy by validating his claims that the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to collect millions of dollars
in lease revenues for those properties. “The Solicitor’s Office has been playing hot potato
with Robert McCarthy’s career for the past two years,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff
Ruch, whose organization is representing McCarthy in conjunction with the Government Accountability
Project. “Interior needs to start listening to and stop shooting at its messengers.”To
see more, go to: www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=925
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Anti-Terror Exercise Set for October
About 15,000 people will participate next month in the largest international counter-terrorism exercise
ever conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), agency officials said Sept. 24. The simulated
radiological attack will take place in Arizona, Oregon and Guam in an exercise scheduled for Oct. 15-19,
DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. The exercise, called Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4),
is the fourth in a series of congressionally-mandated exercises and involves various federal agencies,
as well as the governments of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, Chertoff said. “The National
Intelligence Estimate and recent activity overseas reinforce that we are in a period of increased risk,” Chertoff
said. “Exercises like TOPOFF help test response capabilities at all levels, strengthen national
preparedness and deepen international coordination.” TOPOFF 4 will involve participants
from all levels of government, international partners and the private sector in a full-scale, simulated
response to radiological dispersal device attacks, Chertoff said. To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov/topoff4
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