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Russia's 2008 Presidential Succession [February 26, 2008]
From the Summary: "An election to choose Russia's next president is set for March 2, 2008. The Russian Constitution limits the president to no more than two consecutive four-year terms. President Putin's second term ends in March 2008. Uncertainty about the post-Putin succession dominated and roiled Russian politics for most of 2007, until late in the year, when Putin made clear that he would relinquish the presidency and take the position of prime minister after his protégé, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, was elected president. Putin's genuine popularity at home, combined with the near-total control that he and his regime exercise over nearly every aspect of the political scene, guarantee the electoral outcomes sought by the Kremlin. Major questions remain, however, about the configuration of political power after Medvedev succeeds Putin as president. What will be the balance of power between the President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin? Will a diarchy of power be stable? Will Putin seek to regain the presidency after a Medvedev interregnum which would legalize a third (and fourth) 'non-consecutive' term for Putin? The answers to these questions will help determine the course of Russia's political evolution -- continuing and consolidating the authoritarianism that Putin has fostered, or moderating that trend. At the same time, Russia's domestic political evolution will likely have a strong influence on its relations with its neighbors, with the EU and NATO, and with the United States. [...] This report will be updated as needed."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Goldman, Stuart D. (Stuart Douglas), 1943-
2008-02-26
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Iraq: U.S. Casualties [Updated February 14, 2008]
From the Summary: "The following casualty data was compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency's press releases. 'Table 1' provides statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on March 19, 2003, and is ongoing, as well as on the number of fatalities since May 1, 2003, plus statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003. Statistics may be revised as circumstances are investigated and as all records are processed through the U.S. military's casualty system. More frequent updates are available at DOD's website at [http://www.defenselink.mil/ news/] under 'OIF/OEF [Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom] Casualty Update.'"
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
O'Bryant, JoAnne
2008-02-14
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Understanding the Power of Social Media as a Communications Tool in the Aftermath of Disasters, Hearing Before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, May 5, 2011
From the opening statement of Mark L. Pryor: "Today the Subcommittee has been joined by very insightful guests to talk about the increasingly important role that social media networks play during disaster response and recovery efforts. From search and rescue to family reunification, to safety updates, to communicating vital shelter information, to other critical or lifesaving information, and to all around situational awareness, social media is becoming a tool that people are coming to rely on and to use heavily during emergencies. In July 2010, the American Red Cross conducted a survey--and they are here today, and they will probably talk about this in more detail, but they conducted a survey of over 1,000 people about their use of social media sites in emergency situations. The results of the survey were striking: 82 percent of the participants used some form of social media at least once a day, and nearly half of those use it every day or nearly every day. The survey found that if they needed help and could not reach 911, one in five would try to contact responders through a digital means such as e-mail, Web sites, or social media. If Web users knew of someone else who needed help, 44 percent would ask other people in their social network to contact authorities. Three out of four respondents would expect help to arrive in an hour if a call for help was delivered over the Internet; 35 percent would post a request for help directly on a response agency's Facebook page, and 28 percent would send a direct Twitter message to responders." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Mark L. Pryor, Scott P. Brown, W. Craig Fugate, Renee Preslar, Suzy DeFrancis, Shona L. Brown, and Heather Blanchard.
United States. Government Printing Office
2012
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IRS Data Breach: Steps to Protect Americans' Personal Information, Hearing Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, First Session, June 2, 2015
This is the June 2, 2015 hearing on "The IRS Data Breach: Steps to Protect Americans' Personal Information," held before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From the opening statement of Ron Johnson: "I got a call from the Commissioner of the IRS informing me of the-it is not necessarily a breach. I guess you could call it a breach, but it is not your standard cyber attack that we have been talking about. This is just simply a breach of confidentiality in a system that is meant to assist taxpayers, and it brought all kinds of questions to mind: What type of authentication system, what kind of security system is being utilized here, not only within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) but also other agencies in the government? And what we are starting to find out is, well, different agencies-the Social Security Administration (SSA), we have the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with Healthcare.gov, similar types of systems." Statements, letters, and other materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Michael Kasper, Kevin Fu, Jeffrey E. Greene, and John A. Koskinen.
United States. Government Publishing Office
2015-06-02
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Cities and Pandemics: Towards a More Just, Green and Healthy Future
From the Introduction: "To add to the existing evidence base on the relations between pandemics and urban areas, as well as pathways to inclusive recovery and rebuilding, the report's analysis focuses on forces that are central to shaping cities and their functions. [...] To guide those policy decisions, this report focuses on four timely priorities for the recovery and futureproofing of cities: [1] 'Rethinking the Form and Function of the City': In particular, how the urban morphologies and systems can be reconfigured at different scales to not only enhance their resilience to the effects of the pandemic, but also make them more sustainable and productive in the long term through inclusive planning. [2] 'Addressing Systemic Poverty and Inequality in Cities': Designing targeted interventions that mitigate the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] and related restrictions on poor and vulnerable groups through emergency assistance and service provision, while also taking steps to address the underlying causes of their exclusion. [3] 'Rebuilding a 'New Normal' Urban Economy': Developing a suite of tailored economic support and relief packages to help smaller businesses, informal workers and at-risk sectors to survive the crisis, with an emphasis on 'building back better' by promoting the transition to greener, more equitable urban economies. [4] 'Clarifying Urban Legislation and Governance Arrangements': Recognizing the need for more integrated, cooperative multi-level governance between national, regional and municipal governments, with an emphasis on developing more flexible and innovative institutional and financial frameworks for cities to respond effectively to the unfolding crisis."
United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation
Tuts, Rafael; Knudsen, Christine; Moreno, Eduardo López . . .
2021
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Committee's Investigation into Counterfeit Electronic Parts in The Department of Defense Supply Chain, Hearing Before The Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, November 8, 2011
From the opening statement of Carl Levin: "The systems that we rely on for national security and the protection of our military men and women depend on the performance and reliability of small, highly sophisticated electronic components. Our fighter pilots rely on night vision systems enabled by transistors the size of paper clips to identify targets. Our troops depend on radios and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) devices and the microelectronics that make them work to stay in contact with their units and to get advance warning of threats that may be just around the next corner. The failure of a single electronic part could leave a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine vulnerable at the worst possible time. A flood of counterfeit electronic parts has made it a lot harder to have confidence that will not happen. In some industries, the term ''counterfeit' suggests an unauthorized fake, a knock-off of an original product. The definition of 'counterfeit' as it relates to electronic parts, which has been endorsed by DOD and defense contractors alike, includes both fakes and previously used parts that are made to look new and are sold as new. In March of this year, we announced an Armed Services Committee investigation into counterfeit parts in the DOD supply chain. During the course of the committee's investigation, virtually every one of the dozens of people our investigators have spoken with, from defense contractors to semiconductor manufacturers, to electronic component brokers--every one of them has pointed to China, specifically the City of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province as the primary source of counterfeit electronic parts. While this hearing is focused mainly on the national security implications of counterfeit electronic parts, the rampant theft of U.S. Intellectual Property by Chinese counterfeiters also severely impacts our economic security. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), U.S. semiconductor manufacturers employ nearly 200,000 American workers. Counterfeiting puts those jobs at risk and robs us of American jobs yet to be created. The SIA estimates that counterfeiting costs U.S. semiconductor manufacturers $7.5 billion a year in lost revenue and costs U.S. workers nearly 11,000 jobs." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Thomas R. Sharpe, Richard J. Hillman accompanied by Timothy Persons, Brian C. Toohey, Patrick J. O'Reilly, Vivek Kamath, Ralph L. DeNino, and Charles Dabundo.
United States. Government Printing Office
2012
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Leveraging a Targeted Violence Prevention Program to Prevent Violent Extremism: A Formative Evaluation in Los Angeles
"The following report represents the results of a formative evaluation conducted from December 2015 to November 2016. The data and results reflect what was learned during that time period and are not intended to represent the status of subsequent efforts in Los Angeles. 'Countering Violent Extremism,' or CVE, refers to proactive actions to counter efforts by extremists to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence. Fundamentally, CVE actions intend to address the conditions and reduce the factors that most likely contribute to recruitment and radicalization by violent extremists. Where possible, CVE should be incorporated into existing programs related to public safety, resilience, inclusion, and violence prevention. CVE efforts do not include gathering intelligence or performing investigations for the purpose of criminal prosecution."
United States. Department of Homeland Security; University of Illinois at Chicago; UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters
Weine, Stevan M., 1961-; Eisenman, David P.; Glik, Deborah . . .
2018-09-20?
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Overcoming COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: United States Facing Steeper Uphill Struggle Than United Kingdom
From the Background: "Achieving a high overall vaccination rate is crucial for overcoming the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic (Randolph & Barreiro, 2020). To prevent widening health disparities, it is also important to increase vaccination rates among the diverse populations that are most gravely affected by the pandemic. [...] This policy brief analyzes data collected shortly before vaccines were formally approved. Our findings on vaccine willingness and trends around race and gender are broadly in line with findings of other surveys conducted after the approval of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States (Kim, 2021; Savoia et al., 2021; Social Experts Action Network, 2021) and the United Kingdom (Office for National Statistics, 2021; Sonawane, Troisi, & Deshmukh, 2021; University of Oxford, 2021). However, our study provides more detailed insights into the socioeconomic factors and information seeking behaviors associated with the willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It also examines in more depth the challenges faced by government, health experts, and media, to communicate reliable information about the pandemic, and suggests strategies to overcome them."
Michigan State University. Quello Center for Media and Information Policy
Reisdorf, Bianca C. (Bianca Christin), 1983-; Blank, Grant; Cotten, Shelia R. . . .
2021-03-21
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Cybersecurity, Terrorism, and Beyond: Addressing Evolving Threats to the Homeland, Hearing Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, September 10, 2014
This testimony compilation is from the September 10, 2014 hearing "Cybersecurity, Terrorism, and Beyond: Addressing Evolving Threats to the Homeland," held before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From the opening statement of Thomas R. Carper: "Almost every year, this committee holds a hearing to review a multitude of threats to our homeland and examine how our government is working to counter them. We routinely hear from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counter Terrorism Center about how we can best keep Americans safe from those who seek to carry out deadly attacks against our country and its people. We also hear about actors in cyberspace that want to drain our bank accounts, shut down our financial system and our electric grid, steal our individually identifiable information and our identities, as well as the R & D [Research & Development] that will enable American businesses and our military to remain pre-eminent in the world. Assessing these ever-changing, broad threats and making sure our government continues to hone its ability to stop them remains a top priority for this committee, particularly as we approach another 9/11 anniversary. This year, our hearing takes on an added significance, as our nation confronts a growing terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria. As we sit here today, our military is engaging in limited airstrikes in Iraq in an effort to dislodge and repel that threat. Later this evening, President Obama will address our nation. He is expected to share with us and the world the steps that he is recommending be taken in Iraq and in Syria to reverse the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and enable the people who live in those countries to reclaim their lives." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Thomas R. Carper, Francis X. Taylor, Suzanne E. Spaulding, Nicholas J. Rasmussen, and Robert Anderson, Jr.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
2014-09-10
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Examining the Evolving Cyber Insurance Marketplace, Hearing Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, First Session, March 19, 2015
This testimony compilation is from the March 19, 2015 hearing, "Examining the Evolving Cyber Insurance Marketplace," before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security. Taken from the summary of the press release: "The hearing will explore the growing cybersecurity risk insurance market and hear from experts about coverage, challenges, and opportunities in the industry and the impact on cybersecurity. The Committee's cybersecurity activity this Congress began with two hearings last month. The first hearing examined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s partnership with the private sector to improve critical infrastructure cybersecurity. NIST's continuing role was codified in S. 1353, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-274), originally introduced by Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and former Chairman Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). The second hearing informed Committee efforts in crafting a federal data breach bill." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Ben Beeson, Catherine Mulligan, Ola Sage, and Michael Menapace.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
2015-03-19
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Online Advertising and Hidden Hazards to Consumer Security and Data Privacy: Hearing Before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, May 15, 2014
This is the May 15, 2014 hearing on "Online Advertising and Hidden Hazards to Consumer Security and Data Privacy" held before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From the Opening Statement of Senator Levin: "Good morning, everybody. For almost a year, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has been investigating hidden hazards to consumers' data privacy and security that results from online advertising. Our Subcommittee operates in a very bipartisan way, and our practices and our rules provide that the Ranking Minority Member may initiate an inquiry, and our tradition is for both sides of the aisle to work on investigations together, and our staffs work very closely together. This investigation was initiated and led by Senator McCain, so I would like to call on him to give his opening statement first, after which I will add a few additional remarks. But first I would like to commend Senator McCain for his leadership and his staff for their very hard work in addressing the facts and issues that are the subject of today's hearing. Senator McCain." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Alex Stamos, George Salem, Craig Spiezle, Maneesha Mithal, and Luigi Mastria.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014
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Data Breach on the Rise: Protecting Personal Information from Harm, Hearing Before U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, April 2, 2014
This is a compilation of the April 2, 2014 hearing on "Data Breach on the Rise" held before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From the opening statement of Thomas R. Carper: "There is no doubt that technology has evolved rapidly, particularly over the last decade. And these advances will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. Technology that, 10 years ago, could have been something out of a science-fiction movie, is now a part of our daily lives. As we embrace the latest technology both at home and in the workplace, there is little doubt that more of our sensitive personal information is at risk of being compromised. Whether it is stored on the electronic devices we use daily or on a company server, this data can be vulnerable to theft. As the way we communicate and do business has evolved, so have the tactics used by criminals to steal our money and personal information. Today's cyber criminals run sophisticated operations and are discovering how to manipulate computer networks and make off with troves of personal data. These data breaches have become much more prevalent, with a new one seemingly being reported almost every day." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Thomas R. Carper, Tom Coburn, Edith Ramirez, William Noonan, Gregory C. Wilshusen, Tim Pawlenty, Sandra L. Kennedy, and Tiffany O. Jones.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
2014-04-02
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Solidarity in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Has the World Worked Together to Tackle the Coronavirus?
From the Introduction: "The impact of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has severely challenged governments, health systems and economies, and has devastated millions of lives and livelihoods all over the world. [...] This research paper examines how - and whether - the world has demonstrated solidarity in tackling a global crisis of this scale and magnitude. How well have governments worked together to combat a common global threat? How well have they fostered solidarity in their own populations to stimulate an effective response to the disease? What lessons can be learned?"
Chatham House/Royal Institute of International Affairs
Rahman-Shepherd, Afifah; Clift, Charles; Ross, Emma . . .
2021-07
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Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2019
From the Introduction: "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) engages in immigration enforcement actions to prevent unlawful entry into the United States and to apprehend and repatriate aliens who have violated or failed to comply with U.S. immigration laws. The primary responsibility for the enforcement of immigration law within DHS rests with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). CBP primarily enforces immigration laws along the borders and at ports of entry (POEs) and ICE is responsible for interior enforcement and most detention and removal operations. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicates applications and petitions for immigration and naturalization benefits. The '2019 Immigration Enforcement Actions Annual Flow Report', authored by the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), presents information on DHS immigration enforcement actions during 2019. This includes determinations of inadmissibility by CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers, apprehensions by CBP U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents, and ICE administrative arrests, initiations of removal proceedings, intakes into immigration detention, and repatriation through removal or return." Supplemental data files for this annual report can be accessed here: [https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/yrbk_2019_enf_excel_final.zip].
United States. Department of Homeland Security; United States. Office of Immigration Statistics
Guo, Mike
2020-09
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Misinformation Adoption or Rejection in the Era of COVID-19
From the Abstract: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has led to a misinformation avalanche on social media, which produced confusion and insecurity in netizens. Learning how to automatically recognize adoption or rejection of misinformation about COVID-19 enables the understanding of the effects of exposure to misinformation and the threats it presents. By casting the problem of recognizing misinformation adoption or rejection as 'stance' classification, we have designed a neural language processing system operating on micro-blogs which takes advantage of Graph Attention Networks relying on lexical, emotion, and semantic knowledge to discern the stance of each micro-blog with respect to COVID-19 misinformation. This enabled us not only to obtain promising results, but also allowed us to use a taxonomy of COVID-19 misinformation themes and concerns to characterize the misinformation adoption or rejection that can be best recognized automatically."
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Weinzierl, Maxwell; Hopfer, Suellen; Harabagiu, Sanda M.
2021
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COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit for Mayors: Public Engagement and Communications
From the Introduction: "To achieve an effective and equitable vaccination rollout, Mayors will play a critical role in communicating with their communities about the vaccine. Effective public engagement on the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] vaccine is not an easy task. While the majority of U.S. residents intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine, one in four U.S. residents say they wouldn't get the vaccine if it were free, determined safe by scientists, and available today (as of January 2021). Even for those who want the vaccine, in the early phases it is not always easy for residents to determine whether they're eligible, and if so, to navigate how to receive the vaccine. If not already underway, Mayors need to begin engaging residents about the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process and the importance of receiving the vaccine. Effective local engagement requires staying abreast of a rapidly evolving vaccine distribution process, monitoring emerging concerns of residents, understanding evidence-based messages that can build public trust, identifying trusted messengers, and investing in community-specific communications campaigns."
Bloomberg Philanthropies; United States Conference of Mayors
2021-01
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info, Hearing Before the U.S House of Representatives, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, November 18, 2014
This testimony is from the November 18, 2015 hearing, "VA's [Veterans' Affairs] Longstanding Information Security Weaknesses Continue to Allow Extensive Data Manipulation," held before the House of Representatives, Committee on Veterans' Affairs. From the statement of Gus M. Bilirakis: "On May 29th, 2014 the VA Office of the Inspector General noted that VA's information technology is still plagued by material weaknesses for the 16th straight year, unacceptable as far as I am concerned. Looking back nearly 18 months Mr. Warren testified to the committee that he had an 18-month plan to resolve the problems in VA's network. However, as GAO's [Government Accountability Office] report released yesterday tells us there are continued problems. Of great concern, VA could not provide supporting material for at least one of the serious problems it claimed to have resolved. The weaknesses in VA's network have contributed to the data manipulations related to the recent wait times scandal. Today we want to discuss these issues."
Statements, letters, and other materials submitted for the record include the following: Gus M. Bilirakis, Jeff Miller, Michael Michaud, Stephen Warren, Sondra McCauley, and Greg Wilshusen.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014-11-18
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Data Security: Examining Efforts to Protect Americans' Financial Information, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, March 5, 2014
This is the March 5, 2014 hearing, "Data Security: Examining Efforts to Protect Americans' Financial Information," before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives. From the Opening Statement of Chairman Shelley Capito: "Over the last 6 months, we have learned about a series of breaches of American businesses' data--millions and millions have had their personal data compromised. We will not know the true extent of the impact on American consumers until investigators from Federal agencies and private entities are done with the investigation. These breaches raise, I believe, really legitimate questions about the storage and usage of personal data by private industry. The prosperous have long sought access to this type of information, but the recent breaches demonstrated an evolving sophistication of attacks that seek to exploit and confuse consumers. As we have learned in previous subcommittee hearings, these criminals often reside in nations that fail to cooperate with United States law enforcement agencies. In some cases, these nations not only protect these criminals from prosecution but they celebrate them as heros [sic]. The data these criminals steal is often sold on the black market and can potentially be used for fraudulent purposes. While possibilities for such fraudulent charges may be the source of stress and frustration for consumers, many payment networks have zero fraud policies to protect consumers from fraudulent transactions." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: David Fortney, Gregory Garcia, Troy Leach, Edmund Mierzwinski, William Noonan, and Larry Zelvin.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014
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Examining Challenges and Wasted Taxpayer Dollars in Modernizing Border Security IT Systems, Hearing Before the Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, February 6, 2014
This is from the February 6, 2014 hearing, "Examining Challenges and Wasted Taxpayer Dollars in Modernizing Border Security IT Systems" before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency of the Committee on Homeland Security. From the opening statement of Jeff Duncan: "Today, we will examine DHS's efforts to modernize key information technology (IT) systems used by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically the TECS modernization program. [...] A legacy system in operation since 1987, TECS has become increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain due to the system's antiquated technology and its inability to support the requirements needed by CBP and ICE personnel in the field. Despite TECS's critical importance to our security, CBP and ICE have failed to manage the modernization program effectively. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported, the result has been wasted taxpayer dollars, missed deadlines, and delays in fielding enhancements to CBP officers and ICE agents. [...] With the speed with which technology advances today, it shouldn't take DHS eight years to complete an IT project. Private sector CEOs likely wouldn't tolerate such poor performance and management. Neither should DHS. It's an affront to the American taxpayer and it's time DHS do better." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Jeff Duncan, David A. Powner, Charles R. Armstrong, and Thomas P. Michelli.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014
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S. Rept. 113-256: Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Report of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, to Accompany S. 2521, to Amend Chapter 35 of Title 44, United States Code, to Provide for Reform to Federal Information Security
"The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2521), to amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, to provide for reform to Federal information security, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass. […] S. 2521, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, aims to strengthen the security of federal computer networks and information systems by updating the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002. Specifically, it would: (1) clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure that the statute appropriately reflects each agency's current functions, as well as their respective expertise and resources; (2) improve security by transitioning agencies away from paperwork requirements toward a more automated and continuous security posture; and (3) strengthen transparency and accountability including by making important improvements to the way federal data breaches are managed and reported to Congress and the public."
United States. Government Printing Office
2014-09-15
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Data Centers and the Cloud, Part II: The Federal Government's Take on Optimizing New Information Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers' Money: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Government Operations of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, July 25, 2013
This is the July 25, 2013 hearing, "Data Centers and the Cloud, Part II: The Federal Government's take on Optimizing New Information Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers' Money," before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. From the opening statement of David L. McClure: "The Administration launched the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) in 2010 to stem the large increase in federal data centers that had occurred over the past decade. Establishment of the FDCCI coincided with the initial drive to migrate federal IT infrastructure to cloud computing solutions, providing a framework for development of a baseline inventory that would enable agencies to make data-driven decisions about how to gain efficiencies and achieve cost savings within their IT infrastructure. […] In February 2010, the then Federal CIO [Chief Information Officer] issued guidance requiring agencies to identify their existing data center assets and formulate detailed consolidation plans that include a roadmap and consolidation targets." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: David L. McClure, Steven VanRoekel, and David Powner.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014
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DHS Information Technology: How Effectively Has DHS Harnessed It to Secure Our Borders and Uphold Immigration Laws? Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency of the Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, March 19, 2013
This is the hearing entitled "DHS Information Technology: How Effectively Has DHS Harnessed It to Secure Our Borders and Uphold Immigration Laws?" before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency on March 19, 2013. From the opening statement of Jeff Duncan: "The component agencies that make up the Department of Homeland Security rely heavily on information technology (IT) to perform a wide range of missions. IT is especially important with regard to border security and immigration enforcement. With one of the federal government's largest information technology budgets, DHS's component agencies such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rely on critical IT systems in their daily operations to protect the nation's borders, prevent terrorists from entering the U.S., and facilitate the legitimate flow of people and trade into and out of our country. […] In fiscal year 2012, the Department of Homeland Security planned to spend nearly $5.6 billion in IT investments, $1.7 billion of which is for programs the Department considers to be major investments in CBP, ICE and USCIS. […] Despite some successes by the Department in data center and network consolidation, as well as cloud-based service offerings and establishing IT Centers of Excellence, GAO and the DHS Inspector General have identified numerous cases where the Department has yet to reduce costs and duplication through technology-based integration and modernization. GAO [Government Accountability Office] reported in September 2012 that of DHS's 68 major IT investments, roughly one-third had not fully met their cost or schedule targets. These delays could mean border agents will have to make do with legacy IT systems for longer." Statements, letters and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Jeff Duncan, Ron Barber, Margie Graves, David Powner, Richard Hudson, Beto O'Rourke, and Charles K. Edwards.
United States. Government Printing Office
2013
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Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, March 27, 2014
This is the March 27, 2014 hearing on "Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015," held Before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. From the opening statement of PERSON: ""The FCC's fiscal year 2015 budget request is $375,380,313, including $11,090,000 specifically allocated to the Office of Inspector General. Our auctions cap request is $106,200,000. Adopting this request will allow us to follow through on important priorities identified by your committee and our authorizers: the continued reform of USF programs to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and enhanced enforcement to put teeth into those reforms; as well as internal agency reform designed to make our processes responsive to consumers and the industry in a cost-effective fashion. Importantly, the auctions funds will support spectrum auctions identified in the 2012 Spectrum Act, which will make additional spectrum worth tens of billions of dollars available for commercial licensed services as well as providing nationwide spectrum for unlicensed use, and will support FirstNet"" Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Tom Wheeler and Ajit Pai.
United States. Government Printing Office
2014-03-27
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Oversight: U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command: Hearing Before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, March 12, 2013
"This compilation is from the March 12, 2013 hearing before the United States Senate, Committee on Armed Services entitled, 'Oversight: U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command'. From the opening statement of Committee Chairman, Senator Carl Levin: 'This hearing comes at a time when the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies face the twin threat of sequestration and an expiring continuing resolution and we will want to hear from our witnesses what impact budget restrictions and uncertainty are likely to have on their programs and their operations over the coming months.' Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Carl Levin, James M. Inhofe, C. Robert Kehler and Keith B. Alexander"
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services
2013-03-12
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: Government Perspectives on Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age, Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, April 6, 2011
From the opening statement of Patrick J. Leahy: "Today the Committee will hold a timely and I think important hearing on the Federal Government's use of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA, as we know it. It is one of the Nation's premier digital privacy laws. ECPA has been a bridge between what are, of course, legitimate law enforcement needs but also the equally legitimate privacy rights of Americans. When the Committee held its first hearing on ECPA reform last September, I said that while there is general agreement that ECPA has become outdated by vast technological advances and changing law enforcement missions since the law's initial enactment, the question of how best to update this law has no simple answer. We know it has to be updated. The difficult part is exactly how do we do it. Congress is considering many different approaches to ECPA reform, but I think there should be a few core principles to guide our work. Meaningful ECPA reform must carefully balance privacy rights, public safety, and security. Reforms must also encourage American innovation, and they have got to instill confidence in American consumers, law enforcement, and the business community. All these principles we should agree on. It is how best to do it." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Patrick J. Leahy, Chuck Grassley, James A. Baker, and Cameron F. Kerry.
United States. Government Printing Office
2011
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Government and Freedom of Information: Reinvigorating the Freedom of Information Act for the Digital Age: Hearing Before U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, March 11, 2014
This is a compilation of the March 11, 2014 hearing on "Government and Freedom of Information" held before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. From the opening statement of Patrick Leahy: "For almost a half century, the Freedom of Information Act has translated our American values of government openness and accountability into practice by guaranteeing the public's right to access information. This hearing is an opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made during the last decade on improving the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] process. We will also examine proposals to reform FOIA to address new technologies and the challenges that remain when citizens seek information from their government. Five years after President Obama issued presidential directives on FOIA and open government, we have seen some progress. Backlogs of FOIA requests are on the decline, a trend that started during the first term of the Obama administration. Online tools such as Data.gov, FOIA.gov and the FOIA portal and the Obama administration's new 'FOIA IT [information technology] Working Group' have modernized the way that citizens can obtain government information. We are moving in the right direction, but stubborn impediments to the FOIA process remain in place and progress has come much too slow." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Patrick Leahy, Melanie Pustay, Miriam Nisbet, Amy Bennett, David Cuillier, and Daniel J. Metcalfe.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary
2014-03-11
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Hearing to Receive a Briefing on Cybersecurity Threats in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2014 and the Future Years Defense Program: Hearing Before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, March 19, 2013
This testimony compilation is from the March 19, 2013 hearing, "Hearing to Receive a Briefing on Cybersecurity Threats in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2014 and the Future Years Defense Program," before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. From the opening statement of Kay R. Hagan: "Today we meet to receive a briefing on cybersecurity threats. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, recently testified that cyber threats are for the first time leading the list of specific threats to our security. The purpose of this briefing will be to help us gain a better and deeper understanding of the nature, variety, and seriousness of the cyber threats to our National security, including their impacts on DOD's networks and operations. Cyber threats can range from individual hackers to criminal groups stealing financial data to nation states with sophisticated intelligence-gathering disruptive or offensive capabilities that could steal classified information or harm our critical infrastructure and computer networks." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Kay R. Hagan, Kevin Mandia, Stephanie O'Sullivan, and Jon M. Davis.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services
2013-03-19
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Current and Projected National Security Threats Against the United States, Hearing before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, January 29, 2014
On January 29 2014, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing on Current and Projected National Security threats against the United States. These open hearings occur yearly, and quite a few areas of threat are on the rise, including cyber, counterintelligence, counterspace, and Transnational Organized Crime. They concluded that global threats in the cyber realm are a growing trend, and our increased reliance on cyberspace and digital networks as a nation will create growing risks to our use of digital infrastructure. Exploiting and disrupting our online activities will likely increase, the Select Committee concluded; biggest threats will come from Russia and China. A statement for the record includes James R. Clapper.
United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence
2014-01-29
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Health and Status of the Defense Industrial Base and Its Science and Technology-Related Elements, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities of the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, May 3, 2011
From the opening statement of Kay R. Hagan: "[T]his afternoon the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee meets to consider the health and status of the national defense industrial base and its related science and technology (S&T) elements. These have been the subject of growing concern and will continue to be so as the Department of Defense (DOD) faces increasing budgetary pressures on its acquisition investments in the future. Some of the key challenges include: the fragile nature of the supply chain and limited competition within a heavily consolidated defense industrial sector; growing global competition; a loss of skilled domestic expertise and manufacturing capability offshore; and the negative impacts from an outdated export control regime. In addition, there are challenges attracting and retaining the best and the brightest scientists, engineers, and technologists, who are key components of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce, not only in the industrial sector, but also within DOD as well. Overall, S&T is a key foundational basis for our national defense capabilities and the industrial base that produces them. Sustained research and development (R&D) over the last decades has allowed DOD, in close collaboration with the defense industrial sector, to develop unparalleled military systems from space to the depths of the oceans, and increasingly, in cyber space." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Frank Kendall, Zachary J. Lemnios, Brett B. Lambert, Norman R. Augustine, Jacques S. Gansler, Philip A. Odeen, and Kay R. Hagan.
United States. Government Printing Office
2012
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Safeguarding Consumers' Financial Data: Hearing Before U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, February 3, 2014
This is a compilation of the February 3, 2014 hearing on "Safeguarding Consumers' Financial Data" held before the Senate Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance. The testimonies of this hearing discuss a variety of topics, including "the risks and challenges the Nation faces from large-scale data breaches," FTC (Federal Trade Commission) testimony on data security, the recent Target and other data security breaches, safeguarding consumers' financial information, consumer data security, and securing payment card data. Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: William Noonan, Jessica Rich, James Reuter, Mallory Duncan, Edmund Mierzwinski, and Troy Leach.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
2014-02-03
