Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, Wednesday pressed Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about a culture of misconduct that might have existed at the agency long before the Cartagena scandal became public.
Speaking publicly about the troubled agency for the first time at a Committee hearing, Sullivan insisted several times that he was unaware of such a culture after 29-years at the agency, as an agent, including with the President’s detail, and as director. The Senators, however, felt differently.
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WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved legislation May 16, 2012, that would entitle federal employees in same sex domestic partnerships to the samebenefits now available to married federal employees.
The four Senate authors of bipartisan postal reform legislation have written to House leaders asking them to move swiftly on a reform bill to stop the loss of $25 million a day by the U.S. Postal Service and preserve an iconic American institution that still delivers 550 million pieces of mail daily.
In the meantime, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has begun to downsize the postal service - fortunately in a way that is consistent with Senate-passed postal reform legislation. But the urgency for House action increases with each passing day if the downsizing is to be fair and orderly. The Senate bill was approved April 25 on a strong bipartisan vote of 62-37.
The Postmaster general announced May 9 that he would begin reducing hours of service at 13,000 post offices nationwide. And on May 17, he announced that USPS would consolidate 48 mail processing plants this year and begin closing plants early next year. Chairman Lieberman was cautiously optimistic about both decisions.
The four Senators explain in a USA Today oped why their bill is the most reasonable approach to ensure the future of the USPS for millions of American people and businesses. The Senators hailed the legislation as a strong effort to put the USPS back on solid financial ground and prevent the wholesale closings of postal facilities.
Senators Lieberman, Collins, Caper, and Brown introduced a substitute to the 21st Century Postal Act, S.1789 in mid April to address concerns raised by a number of Senators, especially those who represent rural areas where post offices are heavily relied upon not just for mail but as centers of the community. The substitute amendment would give the USPS the flexibility and tools it needs to raise revenues, cut costs, and maintain its financial viability.
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The key authors of the bipartisan Cybersecurity Act of 2012 eagerly await floor debate of the bill, which focuses on securing the networks of the nation's most critical infrastructure, those life-sustaining systems, structures, and networks that include financial services, energy and water supply, and transportation networks. National security experts continue to stress that protecting the networks of critical infrastructure is a national security priority, as Al Qaeda has made it clear that cyber attack is one of its goals.
The bill that Senators Lieberman, Collins, Rockefeller, and Feinstein are shepherding through the Senate would require the Department of Homeland Security to work closely with the private sector to conduct risk assessments to determine which sectors are most vulnerable to cyberattack. Based upon the risk assessments, DHS would collaborate with the private sector to establish security standards. The bill is aimed at those who are now vulnerable. If a company's systems are sufficiently secured, the new standards would not affect them.
Leaders of the national security, homeland security, and intelligence communities have unanimously supported the measure. The latest to advocate for minimum security standards for critical infrastructure is a leading conservative legal scholar who worked in the previous administration and blogs on a site dedicated to the intersection of public policy and national security. Read other reviews here .
The former co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission - Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton - said any cybersecurity legislation must address the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure. The head of the military's Cyber Command, General Keith Alexander, said at an Armed Services Committee hearing that "we have to have some set of standards." The bill contains all three elements cited by Bush Administration Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as necessary for adequate critical infrastructure protection. Cisco, Oracle, Level 3, TechAmerica, The Business Software Alliance, and many others have praised the bill and the process through which it was developed. And the Washington Post had high praise for the Senators' efforts.
Watch Senators Lieberman and Collins discuss the bill here or read the four Senators' argument that there is no time to lose on strengthening cyber systems of critical infrastructure.
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President Obama signed the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) ActWednesday, April 4, 2012. The measure was the most important ethics bill Congress has passed since 2007. The STOCK Act, which cleared Congress on March 22, would ensure that members of Congress and their staffs are held to the same insider-trading laws as the rest of America. The bill also would require online disclosure of stock trades by members of Congress and many in the Executive Branch within 30 days of the trade and would require disclosure of mortgage payments by members of Congress. The Senate passed the House version of the bill by a vote of 96-3.
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The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee issued a staff report February 20, 2012, detailing the internet radicalization of a homegrown terrorist to violent Islamist extremism and the inadequacy of U.S. policy to counter online radicalization.
The report presents a classic case study of how quickly online radicalization can occur compared to the traditional process of face to face contact between an aspirant and an established terrorist group.
In the case of Zachary Chesser, a young Virginia man now serving 25 years on terrorism related charges, the trajectory from high school graduate to incarcerated felon occurred in just two years.
“Chesser represents a growing breed of young Americans who have such comfort and facility with social media that they can self radicalize to violent Islamist extremism in an accelerated time period, compared to more traditional routes to radicalization,” the report said.
Read the full report here »
Senators Lieberman and McCain authored the legislation that created the 9/11 Commission to determine how our defenses failed us leading up to September 11, 2001, and to ensure a catastrophe of that magnitude never happens again. When the Commission issued its report and recommendations in 2004, the Committee worked quickly to shepherd through Congress in just three months legislation to implement most of the recommendations. In 2007, the Committee pushed through a second bill implementing the remaining recommendations. Since then, the Committee has spent much of its time ensuring those laws are implemented properly, reviewing them for possible changes and updates, and anticipating future needs.
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