Job Vacancies At DHS Said To Hurt U.S. Preparedness
246274
The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a "gaping hole" in the nation's preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat, according to a congressional report to be released today.
416606
(InfoWorld) - Fixing cybersecurity problems in the U.S. is a top priority at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency's leader, but lawmakers didn't focus on the issue during a hearing in Congress Wednesday. Cybersecurity is a "very big issue" that DHS remains concerned about, said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, testifying before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. Chertoff didn't go into details because much of the department's cybersecurity efforts are classified, he said. "I can assure you that we are working with other elements of the federal government and giving highest priority an enhanced strategy with respect to cybersecurity," he said. Cybersecurity threats have "enormous potential to do damage to the United States in years to come," Chertoff added. Chertoff testified before the committee in a hearing titled, "Holding the Department of Homeland Security Accountable for Security Gaps." But while cybersecurity problems continue inside and outside of the U.S. government, lawmakers focused on other issues during the hearing, including the hiring of border agents, training of bomb-sniffer dogs, and the scanning of airline cargo. Just this week, the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledged a successful attack on an unclassified e-mail system earlier this year. While not focusing on cybersecurity, committee chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said DHS needs to improve in several areas. Thompson has criticized the department's cybersecurity efforts in the past, but cybersecurity issues were not on Thompson's list of top priorities for Chertoff in the remaining 16 months of U.S. President George Bush's administration. Instead, Thompson called on Chertoff to fill vacancies at DHS, to finish regulations for container security at ports, and to implement a biometric air passenger screening program. "We owe the American people security," Thompson said. "We owe them accountability. And most importantly, we owe them freedom from fear." Other than the short Chertoff statement on cybersecurity, the issue did not come up again in more than 90 minutes of questions from lawmakers. Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, used part of his question time to complain to Chertoff that many bomb-sniffing dogs used by DHS came from overseas. Rogers urged Chertoff to find ways to breed bomb-sniffing and cadaver dogs in the U.S. "I'm concerned that we are increasingly relying on foreign imported dogs," he said.
237488
WASHINGTON -- A growing number of career professionals within national security agencies believe the situation in Iraq is much worse, and the path to success much more tenuous, than is being expressed in public by top Bush administration officials, according to former and current government officials and assessments over the past year by intelligence officials at the CIA and departments ...
430545
President Bush reserved the right to ignore key changes in Congress's overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- including a requirement to appoint someone with experience handling disasters as the agency's head -- in setting aside dozens of provisions contained in a major homeland...
138029
Facing staff shortages in Iraq, the State Department announced Friday that diplomats would have no choice but to accept one-year postings in the hostile environment or face losing their jobs.
298805
Proposed job cuts could undermine the UK's intelligence effort, former top security officials say.
440309
There's a new management chief at the Department of Homeland Security, ready to fill a post that has been vacant for six months.
71539
Need a job? Have a background in security, health and medicine or the sciences? If the answer is yes, the federal government wants you. Desperately.
254172
The Bush administration wants to overhaul the troubled agency in charge of security at most federal buildings, cutting personnel and giving a bigger role to local police. Lawmakers are fighting the plan, saying that it could leave government employees more vulnerable to crime or attacks by...
665293
The country's first secretary of homeland security plans to leave by Feb. 1, unless a successor is confirmed before then.
109415
Proposed job cuts could hit the UK's intelligence performance, former top security officials warn.
100547
Fixing cybersecurity problems in the U.S. is a top priority at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency's leader, but lawmakers didn't focus on the issue during a hearing in Congress Wednesday.
984
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that Washington fears Europe may be a staging ground for terrorist attacks on the United States.
22718
The failure to appoint an assistant secretary for cybersecurity and incomplete planning are raising questions about how well prepared the Department of Homeland Security is for a cyberattack directed against the nation's critical infrastructure.
142094
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is hampered by having to report to 88 congressional committees and subcommittees, the Washington Post said.
204602
Being secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is a &quot;tough, tough, tough job,&quot; said Dan Prieto. &quot;We have a robotics lab at Harvard.
596445
(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to take several basic steps to protect the nation's cyber infrastructure, including a year-plus delay in naming an assistant secretary for cybersecurity, lawmakers and other critics said Wednesday. Lawmakers and representatives of cybersecurity trade groups questioned why the DHS has failed to fill the high-level cybersecurity position after DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced plans to create the position in July 2005. The delay in hiring an assistant secretary shows a "lack of cybersecurity leadership" at the DHS, said Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, during a congressional hearing. But DHS is working hard to hire an assistant secretary for cybersecurity, and the agency has continued to make significant progress in improving cybersecurity in the past year, George Foresman, the DHS under secretary for preparedness, told the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. He spends about a quarter of his time working on cybersecurity issues, while Andy Purdy, acting director of the DHS National Cyber Security Division, spends about three quarters of his time on cybersecurity issues, Foresman said. Some potential candidates for the job have withdrawn their applications because of private work commitments, Foresman said. Still, the agency may be close to naming an assistant secretary, he said. "Had we been inactive the whole time, I think there'd be grave concern," Foresman said. "But I think we've been in overdrive." Some lawmakers and witnesses seemed to disagree. Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, said the lack of a top cybersecurity leader at DHS means the issue is not a top priority. "Simply put, we're putting ourselves in a real ditch here," she said. Congress may have to get involved in the assistant secretary's hiring, said David Powner, director of IT management issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has criticized the DHS cybersecurity effort in a series of reports. "If they can't figure it out soon, perhaps you can help them," Powner told lawmakers. A June report from GAO found that the DHS had not yet completed a plan involving public and private resources for recovery of the Internet after a major cyberattack, added Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA) trade group, called on Congress to pass data breach legislation awaiting a vote on the House floor. CSIA also recommended that Congress better define the roles government agencies such as the DHS and the Department of Defense should play after a major cyberattack. "There is little strategic direction or leadership from the federal government in the area of information security," Kurtz said. "We must move beyond philosophy and statements of aspirations to defining priorities and programs." The U.S. government has the responsibility of setting priorities and coordinating response to cyberattacks, he added. "Let me be clear -- this is not a call for regulation or intervention," he said. "This is a call for leadership."