House Homeland Security subcommittees will hold a hearing March 7 to explore Government Accountability Office (GAO) findings on cybersecurity workforce implementation for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). GAO released its report Cybersecurity Workforce: Urgent Need for DHS to Take Actions to Identify its Position and Critical Skill Requirements in February noting that DHS “did […]
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Prepare Carefully when Pursuing a GAO Bid Protest
An unavoidable reality of the government contracting process is the fact that vendors responding to a request for proposal (RFP) or request for quotation (RFQ) may at times want to contest the outcome of a particular bid. Vendors who find themselves in this situation may choose to file a bid protest with the Government Accountability […]
Homeland Security Committee Tackles ‘Inefficient’ Vetting
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Oversight and Management Efficiency Subcommittee, called the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) vendor vetting process “bureaucratic in the worst ways, inefficient, inconsistent, and lacking transparency,” at a Feb. 28 hearing. He noted that the Office of Personnel Management establishes contractor employee standards, but DHS is inconsistent in […]
RAND Report Offers Alternative to Amnesty/Deportation Debate
The new RAND Corporation report, Neither Deportation nor Amnesty: An Alternative for the Immigration Debate Building a Bridge Across the Deportation-Amnesty Divide, released Feb. 26, charts a third path between the deportation and amnesty sides of the immigration debate. Author Douglas C. Ligor, senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND Corporation, suggests a statutory approach […]
Homeland Security Hearings to Focus on TSA, Contracting
Two House Homeland Security subcommittees will convene Feb. 27—one focused on the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), the other on doing business with the Department of Homeland Security. The Transportation and Protective Security subcommittee will “examine how TSA engages with the traveling public, through interactions at the checkpoint, customer service contact centers, and social media.” Witnesses […]
It’s Crucial to Increase Physical Security at U.S. Schools
The heartbreaking and tragic events last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, reminded us of the dangers that exist for our schools. In this case, an active shooter, Nikolas Cruz, gained access to school grounds and used his AR-15 semi-automatic weapon to claim the lives of 17 victims. Schools nationwide have […]
Ambassador: Iraq Largely Responsible for Its Own Success
Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Fareed Yasseen discussed progress in Iraq Feb. 22, noting that the entire dynamic in the long-embattled country has dramatically changed from just four short years ago. “The Iraqi army that has now defeated ISIS is not the Iraqi army of 2014; the governance structure of Iraq is different from […]
World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity Ready for Launch
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is set to launch its new Global Centre for Cybersecurity (GCC) in March. It’s an effort to provide resources and guidance to WEF members and other partners on ever-pressing issues of global cybersecurity. After the WEF announcement at its January forum, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristjen Nielsen said […]
WH Report Explores ‘Malicious Cyber Activity’
A new report by the Council on Economic Advisers released last week said “malicious cyber activity” took a toll on the economy anywhere between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016. It also pinpoints China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia as primary nation-state actors among a variety of groups identified in the report identified as […]
Nearly 3/4 of Youth Ineligible for Military
Of the 34 million youth aged 17 to 24 in the United States, only 29 percent could actually serve, according to a report from The Heritage Foundation. As the military relies on volunteers to fill ranks each year, it’s a crisis authors Thomas Spoehr and Bridget Handy say is not in the future; it’s here […]