Former CIA officer arrested for holding secure information

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• A former CIA case officer has been arrested and charged with unlawful retention of national defense information. Jerry Chun Shing Lee worked for the CIA starting in 1994. Law enforcement officers found top secret information in Lee’s possession in 2012, but were unable to arrest him until yesterday as he tried to enter the country from Hong Kong. (Department of Justice)
• Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has introduced legislation to get Customs and Border Protection (CBP) back on track to fill a number of vacancies. The law would let CBP hire 500 new customs and border protection officers and support staff every year, until it’s fully staffed. CBP currently has 1,200 vacant officer positions. (National Treasury Employees Union)
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is behind on processing its disaster relief appeals claims. GAO said between 2014 and 2017, FEMA processed only 9 percent of first-level appeals, and only 11 percent of second-level appeals within the 90-day limit. The proposed law would recommend ways for FEMA to track appeals more accurately and to better develop its workforce. GAO said in 2016 and 2017, 15 U.S. disasters resulted in losses exceeding $1 billion each. (Government Accountability Office)
• The General Services Administration (GSA) has reversed a major procurement decision after seven years. GSA has reopened to new vendors Schedule 75 for office supplies and services after originally closing it in favor of strategic sourcing. GSA also announced it will establish two new special item number (SIN) under the schedule. One SIN will be called Office Supplies 4 for continental United States. The other will focus on overseas office supplies products and services. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said the new schedule 75 will offer increased competition and transparency to customers and vendors alike. GSA closed down Schedule 75 in 2010 to new vendors and pushed as much sales as possible to the strategic sourcing vehicles known as OS2 and OS3. (General Services Administration)

• The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has unveiled a new motto for the agency: “18 for ’18”.  VA said it has 18 projects that cross the Veterans Health Administration and VA’s Office of Information and Technology. Telehealth, suicide prevention, and the electronic health record (EHR)are among the big projects. VA also said it’s starting to migrate 30 years of health data to a new Cerner IT system. Implementing a new EHR is a 10-year project, but the department said it is focusing this year on deploying new infrastructure to support a new health record. (Federal News Radio)

• Veterans Affairs should tighten up its policies for securing its facilities. Auditors at the Government Accountability Office said say VA’s risk management policies don’t incorporate the complete menu of standards established by the Inter-agency Security Committee. Those date to 2013, but VA said its risk management program predates that. GAO said VA should consider the size and population of a facility when determining its security level. And it said the VA should more closely assess the security performance of each facility. (Government Accountability Office)

• Navy Commander of Service Forces Vice Admiral Thomas Rowden is stepping down after the service was plagued with accidents this past summer, according to Defense News.  Ship collisions resulted in the death of 17 sailorsthis year. Rowden has been head of service forces since August of 2014. He is expected to send in his resignation letter this week. (Defense News)

• The Navy said it plans to double the amount of time it allows sailors for paternity leave. The service said the changes could be announced as soon as next month. The policy would extend paid leave to 21 days, up from the current 10 days. It would apply to the spouses of anyone who’s just given birth, but would also apply to the legal custodians of a new baby, including adopted babies. Congress authorized the expansion of paternity leave for military a year ago, but didn’t make it mandatory. The Defense Department would still have to update its own regulations before the change goes into effect. (Federal News Radio)

• The Defense Department and the Food and Drug Administration said they are teaming up to expedite the approval of some products for service members. Troops may be able to get experimental medical products in the field faster. The two agencies said they will meet every six months to discuss what medical items to prioritize. (Federal News Radio)

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