Federal Drive

Friday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Ruben Gomez Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: In the clear: CIA agents who used harsh interrogation techni...

Federal News Network Staff

April 17, 2009 8:12 am

2 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

In the clear: CIA agents who used harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding on terror suspects. The President says he won’t prosecute as long as they were acting under orders. The news came as the White House unvieled memos from the Bush administration that authorized the techniques.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton holds an online town hall meeting today straight from the Dominican Republic. She’s on her way to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. In the online event, Clinton will field questions about issues facing the Western hemisphere. It starts at 11:15 this morning, and you can submit questions online before that.

Veterans Affairs takes another step towards a paperless future. NextGov reports the department is looking at bids for a system that would digitize existing paper files. The contract is worth more than $150-million dollars and is designed to streamline the process for disability claims.

The Army has enlisted the help of a convict who stole $40-million dollars worth of jet fuel. Lee Dubois syphoned the fuel from Camp Liberty in Iraq while he worked as a military contractor. Now he’s helping the Army find others complicit in the scheme. But that does not mean he’s off the hook. He still faces a potential 10 years in jail.

Organized crime behind the vast majority of data breaches in recent years. A new study from Verizon indicates that 9 in 10 attacks were linked to crime organizations. Financial institutions were the biggest targets. And many of the attacks were made easier thanks to computers with gaping security holes. They allowed hackers to install malware and penetrate networks. The report studied breaches that happened over a four-year period.