FederalDaily - November 27, 2007

Bush to Name Shulman as Next IRS Chief

President Bush said last week he intends to nominate Douglas Shulman, a top U.S. securities brokerage regulator, to be commissioner of the IRS, the White House said in a statement. Shulman is currently vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIRA), previously known as the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). If confirmed by the Senate, Shulman will face pressure to close the $345 billion gap between taxes that are owed to the federal government and those that are actually paid. IRS also has come under criticism for its use of private collection firms to collect on delinquent taxes, a job opponents say can be done more efficiently by IRS employees. “Doug is a highly capable executive with extensive management experience and a proven ability to provide innovative leadership to a large organization,” said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Shulman would replace acting commissioner Linda Stiff, who took over for Mark W. Everson when he resigned earlier this year to become president of the American Red Cross. To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071121-1.html.

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Maritime Law Enforcement Academy Wins Accreditation

The Coast Guard announced this month that its Maritime Law Enforcement Academy in Charleston, S.C., received Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation, becoming the ninth federal academy to be accredited. All the accredited federal academies have met and agreed to adhere to 73 professional standards related to law enforcement training, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The Maritime Law Enforcement Academy prepares Coast Guard personnel to perform as boarding officers and boarding team members. Cdr. Mark Wilbert, commander of the academy, called the move “a significant step” toward standardizing the service’s maritime law enforcement training. “We have an aggressive three-year plan to have six of our courses individually accredited, including a yet to be developed law enforcement instructor training course,” Wilbert said. To see more, go to: www.piersystem.com/go/doc/786/182912.

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Lawmakers Question DHS Over Emergency Personnel Stops at Border

Lawmakers this month sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff questioning whether DHS was being overzealous in its border checks following a pair of incidents at the Canadian border involving emergency personnel. In the letter, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, asked Chertoff why border agents stopped a Canadian ambulance at the border on Nov. 12—and then sent the ambulance, which was on its way to Detroit, to secondary inspection and opened its rear doors to question a cardiac patient. One day earlier, border agents stopped a crew of Canadian firefighters from Quebec who were responding to a fire in Rouses Point, N.Y. The truck was stopped for more than eight minutes, and the delay violated a longstanding mutual aid agreement between the fire departments in the two countries, Thompson noted. “We are acutely aware of the need to secure America’s borders,” the letter said. “At the same time, it is imperative that emergency personnel are not delayed unnecessarily when responding to critical needs within our border communities.” To see more, go to: http://homeland.house.gov/press/index.asp?ID=306.

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