McCain and Obama differences on intelligence

From Bloomberg.com:
John McCain and Barack Obama agree that the next president needs to shake up U.S. spy operations. That’s where the similarity ends.
Whoever wins Nov. 4, the next president must overhaul a $47.5 billion intelligence effort, spread through 16 agencies, that’s still struggling seven years after failing to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks and six [...]

Bush administration disregards reporting law

From the New York Times:
The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by DHS. The August 2007 law requires the DHS chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted [...]

EFF sues over telecom immunity for wiretapping

From Wired magazine’s Threat Level:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a brief Thursday claiming that the government’s attempt to give retroactive immunity to the companies that helped the Bush administration’s warrantless spying program violates the Constitution by ripping from the courts the power to hear citizens’ grievances against the government.
The EFF’s brief, filed in response [...]

DHS privacy chief highlights privacy improvements

From DHS Leadership Journal:
Hugo Teufel, DHS Chief Privacy Officer, announces the release of the fourth annual DHS Privacy Office Annual Report to Congress, which covers the reporting period from July 2007 – July 2008, and reviews some of the improvements in DHS privacy efforts in the last year, and ongoing.

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Congress considers domestic intelligence agency

From HSToday:
Congress should consider the impact creating a domestic intelligence agency would have on intelligence analysis and information-sharing at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies that currently hold those responsibilities, the author of a new study on establishing such an agency told HSToday.us.
The Rand Corp., based in Santa Monica, Calif., Monday [...]

History and tips on the DHS grant award process

From HSToday:
A founder of the key homeland security grant program looks back at his handiwork and provides tips on grants and getting the most out of procurement dollars.
A few excerpts:
This year marks the fifth year of existence of DHS, as well as of the UASI program. To this day, the program undergoes changes and sometimes [...]

Committee leaders await findings on info sharing network

From FCW:
The House Homeland Security Committee’s Democratic leadership remains concerned about the Homeland Security Department’s effort to overhaul its platform for sharing sensitive but unclassified information with state and local authorities, dubbed HSIN Next Gen (HSIN = Homeland Security Information Network).
In July, the chairman, Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and a senior member, Jane Harman (D-CA), asked [...]

Expanded GSA CPP now covers security and emergency preparedness

GSA’s Cooperative Purchasing Program (CPP) was started in 2003 to allow state and local governments to procure information technology equipment, software and services found under Schedule 70 and Consolidated Schedule contracts containing IT special item numbers.
Under the expanded CPP, state and local governments also can buy law enforcement, security, facilities management, fire, rescue, clothing, marine [...]

Obama and McCain representatives on DHS and transition

From Government Security News:
Representatives of both presidential campaigns participated in an interesting seminar on the DHS transition program in Washington last Wednesday, hosted by Clark Kent Ervin, the director of the homeland security program at the nonprofit Aspen Institute and the former (and first) inspector general at DHS.
Rachana “Ruchi” Bhowmik, who covers the Senate Homeland [...]

Why HS isn’t an election issue: Voters don’t know what they want

From CQ Politics:
The presidential candidates’ deafening silence on homeland security has a logical explanation: voters have no particular policy preferences on the topic, so there’s no advantage in being specific.
“If you ask [voters] ‘are you concerned about homeland security, are you concerned about terrorism,’ they actually are,” James J. Carafano, a senior homeland security fellow [...]