National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

Tag: DHS

DHS report makes recommendations for greater open source software use in government

Posted on

A report commissioned by the Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology Directorate says barriers to using and developing open source software must be addressed as IT budgets across government continue to tighten.

Security and the perceptions of security are just as problematic as "non-security" challenges to open source software, or OSS, says the report's authors ñ David Wheeler, a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and Tom Dunn, senior research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

[…]

Read More… from DHS report makes recommendations for greater open source software use in government

Freedom of Information Request Backlog Hits 50,000 at DHS

Posted on

Those seeking documents from the Department of Homeland Security will likely have to wait for their requests to be filled. According to a new report released this month from the DHS Privacy Office, the agency now has a backlog of more than 50,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, The Hill reported, with most of those related to immigration records.

[…]

Read More… from Freedom of Information Request Backlog Hits 50,000 at DHS

NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for May 4, 2012

Posted on

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:

NARA Survey Shows Continued Govt-wide Records Mis-Management

[…]

Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for May 4, 2012

NFOIC’s FOI Friday for April 20, 2012

Posted on

A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:

Jessica Dorrell, Bobby Petrino Scandal Shows Power Of FOIA

Bobby Petrino is just the latest Arkansas coach to reveal a bit too much on a state issued cell phone. Petrino was dismissed by Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long on before his phone records became available, but the revealing records won't make it any easier for him to land his next job.

[…]

Read More… from NFOIC’s FOI Friday for April 20, 2012

DHS defends social media monitoring program

Posted on

From NextGov:

The Homeland Security Department monitors social media sites, blogs and online comment threads to gather "situational awareness" about threats and emergencies, but it doesn't pull identifying information about average citizens out of those comments unless it's a "life or death situation," officials told a House panel Thursday.

[…]

Read More… from DHS defends social media monitoring program

Money saved at misdiagnosed veterans’ expense

Posted on

From Courthouse News Service:

NEW HAVEN (CN) – The Vietnam Veterans of America says the Pentagon has "systematically and wrongfully discharged" more than 22,000 veterans since 2001 "on the basis of so-called 'personality disorder'" – rather than post-traumatic stress disorder – to deny them medical care and save the Pentagon $12.5 billion in medical and disability payments.

[…]

Read More… from Money saved at misdiagnosed veterans’ expense

DHS program to monitor social media users draws lawsuit

Posted on

From Nextgov:

Privacy advocates are suing the Homeland Security Department to obtain information on a program that monitors the social media interactions of citizens following a federal vendor's private sector plans to sabotage certain groups' online activities with similar technology.

Homeland Security officials have expanded an ongoing initiative that tracks public online communications in the interests of public safety, according a February DHS notice.

[…]

Read More… from DHS program to monitor social media users draws lawsuit

Senator wants answers from DHS over domain name seizures

Posted on

From Wired:

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said Friday he would demand answers from the Department of Homeland Security about its domain seizure program known as Operation in Our Sites after it was revealed that the government kept a hip-hop music review site’s name for a year without affording the owner a chance to challenge the seizure.

[…]

[…]

Read More… from Senator wants answers from DHS over domain name seizures