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NEWS: Sept. 30, 2016
Efforts to Undermine Public Confidence Are Biggest Election Threat, Experts Say American election systems face threats, but the most vulnerable part isn't technical, according to congressional testimony by electoral and cybersecurity experts. "The biggest threats to the integrity of this November's election and our democratic system are attempts to undermine public confidence in the reliability of that system," Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the New York University law school's Brennan Center for Justice, told the House oversight committee's IT subcommittee. >> Nextgov Maryland's Online Absentee Ballots Called Vulnerable Cybersecurity experts are warning that Maryland's online absentee-ballot system is dangerously vulnerable to tampering and privacy invasions, saying it is easy for impostors to use stolen credentials to request absentee ballots or for cyberthieves to hack in. >> Washington Post Kansas AG, ACLU Reach Agreement on Citizenship Proof Thousands of Kansas voters will be allowed to cast regular ballots in local, state and federal elections in November without providing proof of citizenship under an agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. >> Wichita Eagle
New Background-Check Bureau Gets Leader Who Worked at CIA, FBI The Obama administration named Charles Phalen, a personnel-security expert who has worked at the CIA, the FBI and defense contractor Northrop Grumman, to lead the new National Background Investigations Bureau, the semi-independent office that will officially take over responsibility for processing security clearances on Monday and replaces an Office of Personnel Management clearance system that was breached by hackers. >> Federal News Radio, Reuters Under Fire, Yosemite Park Superintendent Steps Down Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher announced that he is retiring, a week after a heated congressional oversight hearing into allegations by employees of sexual harassment, bullying and other misconduct at Yosemite and other national parks. >> San Francisco Chronicle, McClatchy Newspapers Rules Rolled Out for Contractors' Sick-Leave Mandate The Obama administration finalized rules requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to their employees and expanding data employers must provide on their pay practices. >> Reuters
In Radical Shift, Navy Drops All 91 Enlisted Ratings Titles The Navy deep-sixed all of its 91 enlisted ratings titles, marking the beginning of an overhaul of the rigid career structure that has existed since the Continental Navy in a radical shift sure to reverberate through the fleet and the veterans' community beyond. Sailors will no longer be identified by their job titles, so, for instance, Fire Controlman 1st Class Joe Sailor will now be known as Petty Officer 1st Class Joe Sailor. >> Navy Times Law Enforcement | The Nation Study: Blacks Less Likely to Call 911 After Highly Publicized Police Assaults Black Americans are less likely to dial 911 immediately following and for more than a year after a highly publicized assault or death of a black person at the hands of police, according to a study to be published in October's American Sociological Review based on three sociologists' analysis of 1.1 million 911 calls made in Milwaukee. >> The Atlantic DEA's Confidential-Source Payments Flawed, IG Says The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's program for paying confidential sources to assist with narcotics-trafficking investigations is riddled with deficiencies that could open the door to fraud and abuse, according to an inspector general's report. >> Reuters Phoenix to Trump: Stop Using Ad Showing Local Police Phoenix has sent Donald Trump's presidential campaign a cease-and-desist letter over a television advertisement that shows the Republican candidate talking with on-duty Phoenix police officers. >> Arizona Republic Md. Sheriff, Under Fire over Biased Remarks, Won't Quit Howard County, Md., Sheriff James F. Fitzgerald refused to resign amid continuing protests over a county Office of Human Rights report alleging that he made racist, sexist and anti-Semitic remarks. >> Washington Post
Governor Leading National Push for New Constitutional Convention When he was attorney general of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott sued the Obama administration more than 30 times. Now that he's governor, Abbott is seeking to challenge Washington in a more fundamental way. Abbott is leading a push for a national constitutional convention to enact numerous amendments to restrict federal power. "We have all three branches of government that are trampling the Constitution," Abbott says. >> Governing Transportation | Hoboken, N.J. Deadly Train Lacked Long-Sought Safety System The NJ Transit commuter train that barreled past the end of the track in Hoboken Terminal on Thursday morning--leaving one person dead, more than 100 others injured and the region's transit system gridlocked--was not equipped with an emergency braking system that federal transportation-safety authorities have advocated for 46 years. >> The Record of Bergen County >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
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VIEWPOINT Energy | Michael E. Webber The Important Topic We're Ignoring With all of the hubbub surrounding this year's presidential election, something important has slipped by with little notice: The candidates aren't really talking much about energy. In many ways their relative silence reflects the sign of the times: Most voters are happy with cheap gasoline, and so their attention has turned elsewhere. But gas prices won't stay low forever, and other long-lived energy challenges such as energy imports and climate change aren't going away. >> The Conversation | More commentaries DATAPOINT 14% Percentage of black Americans who say they have a lot of confidence in their local police, compared to 42 percent of whites, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center indicating that the fractured trust between minority communities and law-enforcement agencies is showing little evidence of healing >> USA Today | More data
“If I could I would take all the guns in America, put them on big barges and go dump them in the ocean.” Multnomah County, Ore., Circuit Judge Kenneth Walker, who before becoming a judge 10 years ago was a defense attorney for 25 years, sentencing a defendant who fired 30 bullets in a North Portland drive-by slaying of an innocent man, adding that if he had his way "nobody would have a gun--not police, not security, not anybody" >> Portland Oregonian | More quotes
UPCOMING EVENTS American Productivity and Quality Center Process Conference Oct. 3-7, Houston Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition Oct. 3-5, Washington, D.C. Government Executive and Nextgov Fedstival: the Innovation Festival for Feds Oct. 3-7, Washington, D.C. State Policy Network Annual Meeting Oct. 3-6, Nashville, Tenn. American Enterprise Institute Conversation with Dan Pallotta: "Unlocking the Potential of Nonprofits" Oct. 4, 9-10 a.m., noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. American Society for Public Administration, Arizona State University and Public Administration Review Forum: "Public Administration Perspectives on the Future of Higher Education" Oct. 4, 3:30-7 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Partnership for Public Service Center for Presidential Transition Discussion: "The Business of Transition" Oct. 5, 10-11:30 a.m., Washington, D.C. National Association of State Chief Administrators Annual Institute on Management and Leadership Oct. 5-7, Olympia, Wash. Center for American Progress Discussion: "The United States and Japan: the Cornerstones of the Pacific" Oct. 5, 10-11:30 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. >> Full events listings |
