Federal Daily - October 6, 2009

DHS to Use New Hiring Authority to Bolster Cybersecurity Workforce

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new hiring authority which will allow it to recruit and hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity professionals. The hiring authority, authorized for the next three years and applicable to all DHS components, will permit the department to staff positions in cyber incident response, vulnerability detection and assessment, intelligence and investigation, and network and systems engineering. Although DHS does not anticipate the need to fill all 1,000 positions, the cap reflects the administration’s commitment to equip DHS with the tools it needs, the agency said. The new hiring authority is the result of a collaborative effort among DHS, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget. “This new hiring authority will enable DHS to recruit the best cyber analysts, developers and engineers in the world to serve their country by leading the nation’s defenses against cyber threats,” said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1254411508194.shtm or www.staysafeonline.org.

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VA Prescription Service Gets High Marks

Veterans who participated in the latest J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey of pharmacies gave high marks to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mail-order prescription drug distribution service, VA said in an Oct. 1 statement. The VA mail-order pharmacies were ranked No. 3 in the 2009 National Pharmacy Study, which surveyed about 12,000 pharmacy customers. The survey awarded the VA mail-order pharmacies the same five-star rating in the overall experience category as Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy and Prescriptions Solutions, which finished first and second, respectively, in the rankings. Every veteran enrolled in the VA health care system is eligible to receive prescription medications, and VA in 2008 provided about 126 million outpatient prescriptions to more than 4.4 million patients. VA operates seven mail-out pharmacies, which also support the Civilian Health and Medical Program for VA and the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1791.

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While Security Clearances Speed Up, Quality Lags, GAO Says

Although the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and DoD have made significant progress in improving the timeliness of the personnel security clearance process, agencies still need to work harder to improve the quality of clearance investigations, Government Accountability Office (GAO) officials told lawmakers. In testimony before a House intelligence subcommittee on Oct. 1, GAO officials noted that agencies have notably reduced clearance backlogs; OPM itself conducted about 750,000 national security investigations in Fiscal Year 2008. However, problems related to the quality of clearance investigations and adjudication determinations persist, auditors said. For example, auditors estimated 87 percent of about 3,500 investigative reports prepared by OPM for initial top secret clearances adjudicated in July 2008 were missing required documentation. For DoD adjudicative files, GAO estimated that 22 percent were missing required documentation of the rationale for granting clearances to applicants with security concerns. When auditors asked for an explanation, they discovered that both agencies were limited because neither OPM nor DoD measures the completeness of their investigative reports or adjudicative files. GAO recommended that DoD clarify its guidance to specify when adjudicators can use incomplete investigative reports in adjudication decisions, and that OPM and DoD measure the completeness of their investigation and adjudication documentation. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d10117t.pdf.

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