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washingtonpost.com - Homeland Security

Morale at Homeland Security Still Shaky After Five Years
Most employees at the Department of Homeland Security like their work, believe it is important and cooperate with others to get the job done. That, no doubt, is a great comfort to the department's senior leaders.
Bush Fills Key Posts In Homeland Security
President Bush yesterday tapped veteran prosecutor Kenneth L. Wainstein to serve as his White House homeland security adviser as he moved to name another key counterterrorism official and defuse criticism that he has left important positions unfilled.
Homeland Security's Struggle
The Department of Homeland Security celebrates its fifth birthday this week, and hopefully not with a bang. This has to be the only agency in government whose biggest achievement is when nothing happens.
Homeland Security Chief To Lose Job In Overhaul
Homeland security chief Gordon Aoyagi is planning to end his 23-year career with the county in the spring. Aoyagi's plans were inadvertently disclosed at County Executive Isiah Leggett's news conference last week to flesh out his reorganization of government departments and agencies.
Homeland Security Prepares for Its First Transition
The handoff to the next administration is a year off, but Paul. A. Schneider, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, is making plans and keeping track of key lieutenants with a color-coded chart.
Funds Cut for Homeland Security Headquarters
Congress has eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars requested by President Bush for 2008 to start building a giant headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security in the District, officials said yesterday.
Homeland Security Adviser Townsend Leaving White House
President Bush's chief terrorism adviser announced yesterday that she is stepping down early next year, the latest in a series of high-level exits from the White House as the Bush presidency heads toward its final year.
ICx Technologies Debuts on Stock Market
ICx Technologies, an Arlington homeland security company with a slate of former government officials serving as board members and top executives, went public yesterday, raising $80 million.
Homeland Security Retreats From Facets of 'Real ID'
The Bush administration is easing its demand for tough national standards for driver's licenses, acting at the behest of state officials who say the "Real ID" plan is unworkable and too costly, officials familiar with the new policy said.
N.Y. Will Offer Secure Driver's Licenses to Citizens
The Bush administration and New York announced an agreement yesterday to create a generation of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens, but also to allow illegal immigrants to get a version.
Homeland Security's Use of Contractors Is Questioned
At the Department of Homeland Security, contract employees help write job descriptions for new headquarters workers. Private contractors also sign letters that officially offer employment. And they meet new government hires on their first day on the job.
Scouting a New Home For Homeland Security
Federal officials will seek approval starting this week for plans to build a giant headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, a $3 billion undertaking that would transform a dilapidated but historic site in Anacostia.
Homeland Security Revises Rule for Disciplinary Appeals
A key rule designed to streamline the handling of major disciplinary appeals by Department of Homeland Security employees is in place -- almost five years after President Bush set it in motion.
Charles County Wins Largest Of Homeland Security Grants
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced this week that he has secured more than $1 million in federal homeland security grant funds for Southern Maryland.
GAO Criticizes Homeland Security's Efforts to Fulfill Its Mission
Hobbled by inadequate funding, unclear priorities, continuing reorganizations and the absence of an overarching strategy, the Department of Homeland Security is failing to achieve its mission of preventing and responding to terrorist attacks or natural disasters, according to a comprehensive report by the Government Accountability Office.
Homeland Security Drops Data-Mining Tool
The Department of Homeland Security has given up on one of its broadest anti-terrorism data-mining tools after investigators found it was tested with information about real people without the required privacy safeguards.
Congress Approves Homeland Security Bill in 2 Strong Votes
Congress gave final approval yesterday to legislation that requires tighter screening of air and sea cargo, and shifts more federal anti-terrorism grants to high-risk areas such as New York and Washington, delivering on a pledge by Democrats last fall to implement additional recommendations of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Turnover Rate Stabilizes at Homeland Security
On issues of staffing, there is a glimmer of progress at the Department of Homeland Security.
Tussle Over St. Elizabeths
When Rob Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation toured the abandoned west campus of old St. Elizabeths Hospital a few years ago, he was eager to explore Hitchcock Hall, the theater for the nation's first federal mental institution. As Nieweg waited to get his bearings in the dingy twilight, he heard a foreboding sound -- running water.
Earmark Dispute Bogs Down Homeland Security Bill
The congressional spending season began with a blowup over earmarks in the House yesterday, as the first bill to reach a vote prompted a White House veto threat and scores of amendments from Republicans furious with Democrats' handling of pet-project spending in the measures.
D.C. Hydrants and Homeland Security
Nearly six years and hundreds of millions of dollars in homeland security "investment" after Sept. 11, 2001, and evidently the nation's capital is uncertain about the working condition of its fire hydrants ["More D.C Fire Hydrants May Be Broken," front page, May 24]. Homemade bombs being the current weapon of choice among terrorists, one would imagine that functioning hydrants would be a first priority in the war against this threat. Evidently that is an incorrect assumption.
A Slow Go at Homeland Security
It's no secret that the government's biggest reorganization in 50 years has been troubled.
Former Ehrlich Aide Becomes Homeland Security Coordinator
The Department of Homeland Security yesterday named a former Maryland official and ex-Marine to coordinate disaster and anti-terrorism preparations for the D.C. area.
A Witness To Homeland Security's Birth
It has been eight years since Darrell Darnell applied for work in a newly established Justice Department office that helped states and cities prepare for a catastrophic attack.
Sensible Security Fixes
ALONG-DORMANT battle over the Department of Homeland Security's labor practices resurfaced last week in the Senate. The White House threatened to veto a generally sensible homeland security bill that was based on the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations, because of a provision that would allow Transportation Security Administration employees to engage in collective bargaining. In the Senate, 36 Republicans are promising to sustain that decision by President Bush.