OIG did not substantiate a reprisal claim where employees were removed for misconduct, but found inconsistencies within whistleblower policies in the course of the investigation. Keep Reading
A GAO report has found that the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration need to address risks and improve their ADS-B Out technology, the system they use to track military aircraft. While the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out technology provides more information, such as precise locations and real-time tracking, than other tracking systems, it carries… Keep Reading
Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, has officially unveiled the new National Defense Strategy, and countering China and Russia is a top priority. Mattis unveiled the unclassified pages of the strategy at the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, and threats from other countries were high on the agenda. The document highlights the advances that China has… Keep Reading
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is missing opportunities to identify aliens who may have ties to terrorism, and those holes in the screening protocol put national security at risk, according to an OIG report. The report found that the agency is not adequately implementing its KSTEP (Known or Suspected Terrorist Encounter Protocol). KSTEP was established to… Keep Reading
Delays on the NASA Crew Contract, from both Boeing and SpaceX, are risking U.S. access to the International Space Station, according to a GAO report. Both contractors have made progress on the project, but have also experienced delays, which could lead to neither option meeting NASA standards for human spaceflight before the NASA contracted seats… Keep Reading
FEMA is only processing 9 percent of first-level assistance appeals and 11 percent of second-level assistance appeals within the statutory 90-day timeframe, according to a GAO report. The report found that FEMA’s data is often inaccurate and incomplete because regional offices do not consistently track first-level appeals and FEMA does not have processes to ensure… Keep Reading
FBI agents took down or disrupted only about one-tenth as many cyber criminal operations during the 2017 fiscal year as they did three years earlier, according to annual reports. The number of cyber crime operations that FBI agents dismantled or disrupted fell from nearly 2,500 in fiscal year 2014, the first year reliable records were… Keep Reading
Customs and Border Protection has failed to properly verify the licenses of all shipments of radiological material that enter the United States — cargo that could be used by terrorists to make a dirty bomb. Licenses of the shipments are issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and some states, and CBP is responsible for verifying… Keep Reading
The GSA announced that it plans to formalize the cybersecurity rules it lays out for contractors. The regulations are the same ones that the agency already imposes on contractors, with some additions and deletions, but GSA intends to impose them through a federal regulatory process this year. The agency will also give the public a… Keep Reading
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) required the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to review a sample of DHS’ Fiscal Year 2017, 2nd quarter spending data posted on USASpending.gov and to submit to Congress a report assessing the data’s completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy, as well as DHS’ implementation and… Keep Reading
A report from RAND Corp. has found that bid protests are rare, they are not a big burden on the Defense procurement system and companies are not abusing them. Companies have the right to file a bid protest if they believe DoD has made an error in soliciting a bid, choosing a winner or canceling… Keep Reading
A GAO report has found that surface inspectors from the TSA should align their activities more closely with identified risks. It makes four recommendations which include addressing limitations in TSA’s data system and defining objectives for the RMAST program. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review the activities of Transportation Security Administration… Keep Reading
GAO found that DHS should improve its planning and review around the consolidation of CBRNE mission functions. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive weapons, also known as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), have the potential to kill thousands of people in a single incident. In 2013 Congress directed DHS to review its WMD programs, including… Keep Reading
DHS and FBI released a pair of Joint Technical Alerts (TA17-318A and TA17-318B) that provide details on tools and infrastructure used by North Korea to target the media, aerospace, financial, and critical infrastructure sectors in the United States and globally. The North Korean government malicious cyber activity noted in these alerts is part of a… Keep Reading
The Homeland Security Committee’s Republican Members of the Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry to the United States released its final report after conducting an extensive review to assess key pathways extremists might utilize to infiltrate the homeland. The Task Force was also charged with identifying gaps in U.S. government information sharing and vetting procedures.… Keep Reading