Federal Daily - March 26, 2009

Grassley Questions Timing of FDA Memo

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned the propriety and timing of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) memo sent to FDA employees warning them against disclosing sensitive information to the public. In a March 24 letter to acting FDA Commissioner Frank M. Torti, Grassley cited a memo that said FDA employees who violate anti-disclosure laws could be disciplined or face criminal penalties. Grassley, a longtime whistleblower advocate, said the memo appears to violate whistleblower statutes that allow government workers to disclose to Congress matters of waste, fraud and abuse. Grassley said the memo also comes just as the agency is being accused of manipulating its own safety/approval protocols. Additionally, leaked internal FDA documents seem to suggest that lobbying may have influenced a decision in a device-approval case, Grassley pointed out. “I am concerned with the timing of your memorandum,” Grassley wrote. “My concern is that this recent memorandum could be viewed by some as an effort to chill and/or prevent FDA employees from exercising their rights under whistleblower protection laws.” To see more, go to: http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?
customel_dataPageID_1502=19930.

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DHS to Send More Agents to Border in Anti-Violence Crackdown

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano on March 24 announced DHS will send an additional 360 agents to the Southwest border in an effort to prevent the violence from Mexican narcotics wars from crossing into this country. The $184 million initiative, announced at a White House ceremony, aims to stop at the border Mexico’s drug-related violence that killed 6,300 Mexicans last year. In general, it will add personnel, increase intelligence capability and foster better coordination with state, local and Mexican law enforcement authorities. As part of the initiative, DHS will double the number of agents assigned to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Border Enforcement Security Task Forces from 95 to 190, at a cost of $5.7 million; triple the number of intelligence analysts working at the border, at a cost of $3.3 million; and increase ICE attaché personnel (agents working in troubled areas in Mexico such as Ciudad Juarez and Hermosillo) by 50 percent, from 24 to 36 agents, at a cost of $650,000. ICE will also double the number of agents assigned to Criminal Alien Program Violent Criminal Alien Sections—adding 50 agents—and increase to 40 the number of agents designated as Border Liaison Officers. Customs and Border Protection will deploy 100 Border Patrol agents to augment outbound inspections at ports of entry, where they will implement more high-tech screening devices. To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1237909530921.shtm   

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Bill Would Improve Federal Supervisor Training, Accountability

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, introduced legislation on March 24 that he says would—if passed into law—bolster accountability and leadership in federal supervisor ranks by requiring improved management training at all agencies. The bill, the Federal Supervisor Training Act, would require agencies to provide all managers with regular, ongoing training on management skills, prohibited personnel practices, mentoring, employee rights and general leadership. Specifically, the law would mandate that all new supervisors receive training in the initial 12 months on the job, with mandatory retraining every three years on how to evaluate employees and how to work with employees to develop performance expectations. Current managers would have three years to obtain their initial training. Training would have to include sessions on the laws for enforcing whistleblower, collective bargaining and antidiscrimination rights. “The performance of our federal employees and managers is essential to the success of our government. We will do well to invest in them through training and professional development,” said Akaka, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on the Federal Workforce. To see more, go to: http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases
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