Tuesday Afternoon Federal Newscast

The Obama administration has told some members of Congress that it plans to nominate its Southwest border czar to be commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Alan Bersin has been serving in a position created by the Obama administration to handle illegal immigration and border issues since April. As head of Customs and Border Protection, Bersin would continue to oversee border issues. From 1993 to 1998, Bersin was the federal prosecutor who led the government’s crackdown on illegal immigrants at the California-Mexico border. Bersin would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

About a third of Foreign Service officers in jobs that require language skills don’t have the proficiency required to do their jobs. A new report by the Government Accountability Office says that the Foreign Service can’t communicate with local officials or populations, relies too heavily on local staff for critical functions, and can’t respond to bad press when it appears in foreign languages. The State Department blames the poor figures on staffing shortages and the recent increase of language-intensive positions.

The Homeland Security Department’s Einstein intrusion detection system doesn’t violate any laws, including the Fourth Amendment. This was the latest decision by the Justice Department and it reaffirms the agency’s position under the Bush administration. DHS is installing Einstein 2 on every agency’s network to improve its government-wide view of cyber attacks. It also will give agencies an early warning should there be a successful attack or other problem. DHS already has begun work on Einstein 3, which will expand the program’s capabilities. Read all about it here.

A Navy subcontractor has been sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to repay the government $96-thousand dollars after admitting his role in a bid-rigging conspiracy. Todd Mosiman, of Virginia Beach, was sentenced on a conviction of conspiracy to defraud the government. He could have faced up to five years in prison. Mosiman admitted that between 2004 and 2005, when he ran a now-defunct company in Chesapeake, he conspired with an employee of a Navy contractor to rig bids for the repair and maintenance of elevator equipment on aircraft carriers and support vessels. (AP wire)

The National Academy of Sciences is launching a health and safety review of an Army biodefense laboratory under construction at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The panel will consider whether planners of the new Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases properly analyzed the health and safety risks of the project. Critics say the military didn’t fully consider the possibility that germs could be released either accidentally or through the actions of a terrorist or disgruntled worker. (AP wire)

Other News Links

Federal building inventory shrinks 9% (Federal Times)

House to take up stopgap spending bill (Congress Daily/GovExec)

IG blasts management of Energy’s classified information network (GovExec)

Health data breach notification rule starts Sept. 23 (FCW)

TSA needs privacy IT tools, IG says (FCW)

And Finally . . .

Vehicle Armor Recognized in Army Awards (Washington Post)

Twitter Links Mentioned On-Air

Most common password: 123456 RT @GeekLinks: If you see a password you use on this list, change it. http://is.gd/3zsKj

@USAgov Happy Autumn! See what fall looks like from space thanks to NASA’s Earth Observatory: http://go.usa.gov/llX

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