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Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced $25.5 million in grant funding under the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project (BIDP) on May 2. The BIDP, said DHS, is a one-time competitive grant program focused on developing innovative solutions to strengthen interoperable emergency communications along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico.
“After all, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has not existed since March 1, 2003,” says an exasperated official blog posted on the USCIS website on April 13. USCIS correctly noted that most of the functions that had been performed traditionally by the INS were transferred in 2003 to three newly-created components of DHS: USCIS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are working on a gaming-based simulation and analysis program that can help leaders at the agency with decisions about making key procurements and funding choices. The program, called the Borders High Level Model (HLM), uses a gaming platform called Ground Truth, a force-on-force battle simulation tool called Dante and the work of several collaborating organizations, according to Sandia.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has been a strong proponent to give 700 MHz spectrum to emergency responders so they can establish a nationwide public safety wireless communications network. Critics of the plan have said it would require a substantial financial commitment from emergency responders to access the spectrum. They add that a shared-network with commercial providers would be more-cost effective and possibly produce a more functional network.
Now, as GSA’s associate administrator for governmentwide policy, Kathleen Turco wants to apply the same tough deadlines to regulatory reform proposals that budget officials face for closing their financial books on time.
White House cyber security and Commerce Department officials unveiled on Jan. 7 a new plan to establish trusted identities for online transactions that will collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies.
The House Committee on Homeland Security has approved legislation that would enable state, local and tribal governments to use a portion of their homeland security grant monies to maintain their previously purchased equipment.
The measure was introduced by Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) in October 2009 because the previous month FEMA had announced that grant recipients could not use funds received under Urban Area Security Initiative Grants or State Homeland Security Grants to maintain and sustain their equipment outside the performance period of the original grants.
