Ground broken on $3.4 billion Homeland Security complex

[rebeccajo 14]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Washington notables broke ground on the future home of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, symbolically starting construction on the biggest federal building project in the Washington area since the Pentagon 68 years ago.

The project will bring together more than 15,000 employees now scattered in 35 offices in the region, placing them on a 176-acre campus strewn with historic buildings in a long-neglected corner of Washington, five miles from the Capitol building.

Department leaders hope the $3.4 billion consolidation will help the department fulfill its core mission -- protecting the homeland -- in ways big and small.

"It will help us hold meetings," Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "It will help us build that culture of 'One DHS.'"

At the groundbreaking, political leaders shoveled dirt with care, but pitched historical references and metaphors with abandon.

"I do have a kind of paternalistic feeling towards DHS," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, an early advocate for creating the department. "I feel like we've finally given a home to this child we've created, which is finally reaching maturity."

Lieberman likened the creation of the department's headquarters to the creation of the Pentagon. Ground was broken on the Pentagon on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before the 2001 terrorist attacks, he noted.

President Franklin Roosevelt planned the defense consolidation, Lieberman said, because he knew war was imminent and felt it could be coordinated more efficiently from one location. The Department of Homeland Security also will benefit by consolidation, Lieberman said.

The site today has the appearance of a sprawling college campus -- although one stuck in time. Established by Congress in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane and later renamed St. Elizabeths, the campus has 62 buildings built between the 1850s and 1940.

The federal government plans to preserve 52 of the historic buildings, which are in varying stages of decay. Of the 10 buildings to be destroyed, eight are greenhouses that have major structural damage.

Some $650 million in Department of Homeland Security and General Services Administration federal stimulus money is expediting some of the rehabilitation, the latter agency said.

The project also includes large amounts of new construction. The first building, a 1.8 million-square-foot U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, will cost about $435 million and is scheduled for completion in 2013. The building will include "green roofs" and landscaped courtyards to capture and reuse surface water.

Former Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend said the department is right to consolidate its facilities but cautioned it won't make the huge differences some people claim it will.

"For one thing, what we know is St. Elizabeths is not big enough to hold all of their headquarters components," she said. And while the department needs to be far enough away from downtown Washington to survive an attack, it "suffers from not having a presence on the National Mall just like all the other major agencies," she said.

City officials were ebullient Wednesday about the prospect of a blighted area being transformed. The gated campus borders some of Washington's most violent streets.

"They're going to try us, and they're going to like us," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress.

Councilman Marion Barry, who has long complained the area is ignored by the federal government, tweaked visitors at the groundbreaking.

"I hope most of you had your GPS's working," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/hom...;iref=polticker

[Pooky 3,795]

Ground broken on $3.4 billion Homeland Security complex

They need to fix that.

[tallcoolone 102]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

Edited September 10, 2009 by tallcoolone

[NickD 203]

From http://blog.taragana.com/n/report-us-agenc...o-border-85333/

"Report: US not doing enough against gun smuggling

WASHINGTON — Two federal agencies are being faulted for not coordinating their efforts against border gunrunners, a failure one lawmaker says made it easier for Mexican drug cartels to smuggle illegal weapons from the United States.

The Government Accountability Office criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for not working together to stop the flow of guns into Mexico.

In testimony prepared for a House subcommittee hearing, the GAO noted that the two agencies only recently stepped up their coordination with each other and with their Mexican counterparts to stop gunrunning along the border.

Rep. Eliot Engel, who chairs the subcommittee, said there should have been an anti-gunrunning strategy in place since October 2007, when the U.S. and Mexico agreed to the joint cartel-fighting Merida initiative. The Merida Initiative aims to help Mexico acquire equipment for the drug battle and improve its police and judicial institutions.

“It is mind-boggling that for a year and a half, we have had no interagency strategy to address this major problem, but instead have relied on uncoordinated efforts by a variety of agencies,” Engel, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

Engel said the firearms flowing illegally from the U.S. into Mexico have made the drug cartels’ jobs easier.

Engel’s subcommittee was to have met on Thursday, but the hearing was canceled because of other House business.

ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the two agencies pride themselves “on the strength of our relationships with law enforcement partners at every level and throughout the country.”

Nantel said, “The Southwest Border is clearly one of the most important areas where we rely on these relationships to improve safety and security.”

ATF spokesman W. Larry Ford said the two agencies are working on a new agreement “to combat violent crime along the Southwest border.”

Ford added, “ATF prides itself on the strength of its relationships with law enforcement partners at every level of government throughout the country.”

Citing ATF data, investigator Jess T. Ford said that over the past three years, more than 90 percent of the firearms traced after being seized in Mexico have come from the U.S. The figure is slightly less over a five-year period.

“While it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally trafficked into Mexico in a given year, over 20,000, or around 87 percent, of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced over the past five years originated in the United States,” the GAO’s Ford said in testimony prepared for Congress.

The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

In the GAO report released Thursday, investigators cited several examples of miscommunication between ICE and ATF, including:

— During one operation, an ICE agent unknowingly covertly kept watch on the activities of an undercover ATF agent who was investigating a suspected trafficker.

— ATF did not tell ICE about a covert operation where ATF agents delivered weapons across the border in an attempt to ferret out the Mexican organizations receiving illegal arms. ATF should have notified ICE about the controlled attempt to export weapons illegally, the GAO said. Lack of coordination raised the chances that the weapons could end up in the wrong hands.

— In some cases, ICE and ATF refused to give each other required documentation for investigations.

The two agencies were working under a 1978 agreement about dual investigations, which the GAO cited as a major obstacle to coordination. An updated agreement to address the coordination problem is in the works, the report said.

Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett contributed to this report."

Sounds crazy with the number of different federal law enforcement agencies we already have, CIA, FBI, DEA, ICE, ATF, Treasury Department, sure there is more. Then the city, county, and state law enforcement agencies on top of that. All at one time or another not cooperating with each other. Key criteria for being the head of any of these agencies is how one helped the president get elected into office.

It's a mess that Homeland Security is suppose to address, just another agency.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

You must have missed this:

Feds' screening for illegal workers begins Tuesday

By CINDY CARCAMO

Fri., Sept . 4, 2009

Anyone who does business with the federal government will soon be required to use a federal system that is intended to weed out employees without authorization to work in the country.

After Labor Day weekend, those federal contractors and subcontractors will have to useE-Verify, which allow employers to check the validity of a new hire's Social Security number.

[Heracles 417]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

Well your not going to get the people from east DC to do the work. That's for sure.

[The_Dude 1,142]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

You must have missed this:

Feds' screening for illegal workers begins Tuesday

By CINDY CARCAMO

Fri., Sept . 4, 2009

Anyone who does business with the federal government will soon be required to use a federal system that is intended to weed out employees without authorization to work in the country.

After Labor Day weekend, those federal contractors and subcontractors will have to useE-Verify, which allow employers to check the validity of a new hire's Social Security number.

I don't think there is much that doesn't escape TCO. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[mawilson 2,133]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

You must have missed this:

Feds' screening for illegal workers begins Tuesday

By CINDY CARCAMO

Fri., Sept . 4, 2009

Anyone who does business with the federal government will soon be required to use a federal system that is intended to weed out employees without authorization to work in the country.

After Labor Day weekend, those federal contractors and subcontractors will have to useE-Verify, which allow employers to check the validity of a new hire's Social Security number.

If they use a stolen name+SSN, E-verify will confirm a match and everything will be good again.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Is this really the time to worry about this complex. Were in a recession still right? Ridiculous if you ask me.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And the Funny thing, I bet most of the laborers working there to build the structure will be Illegal Aliens

You must have missed this:

Feds' screening for illegal workers begins Tuesday

By CINDY CARCAMO

Fri., Sept . 4, 2009

Anyone who does business with the federal government will soon be required to use a federal system that is intended to weed out employees without authorization to work in the country.

After Labor Day weekend, those federal contractors and subcontractors will have to useE-Verify, which allow employers to check the validity of a new hire's Social Security number.

If they use a stolen name+SSN, E-verify will confirm a match and everything will be good again.

Except that the employee will then also have to come up with doctored ID's to match the name and date of brith of the individual that the SSN actually belongs to. Not impossible to do but a taller order to fill. Plus, that would take away the "innocent" claim an illegal can make today when it comes to ID theft charges. Using a fake name and doctored ID is something that will be harder to defend than merely using a string of numbers as a SSN.

Q : What information is required to conduct an E-Verify initial verification?

After hiring a new employee and completing the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9), required for all new hires (regardless of E-Verify participation), the employer or agent must submit a query that includes information from sections 1 and 2 of the Form I-9, including:

• Employee's name and date of birth,
• Social Security Number (SSN),
• Citizenship status he or she attests to,
• A number or I-94 number, if applicable,
• Type of document provided on the Form I-9 to establish work authorization status, and
• Proof of identity, and its expiration date, if applicable.

Response to the initial query is sent within seconds of submitting the query. Documents presented for Form I-9 identification only purposes (documents from "List B") to E-Verify employers must have a photograph.

Is this really the time to worry about this complex. Were in a recession still right? Ridiculous if you ask me.

Exactly. Why should we create thousands of jobs in a recession. What a crock!

[The_Dude 1,142]

I was wondering where my $1010 check to the Department Of Homeland Security was going to go

[thongd4me 69]

Sounds like a job for Homey D. Clown

[Heracles 417]

If they use a stolen name+SSN, E-verify will confirm a match and everything will be good again.

Which is deliberate, aka conveniently turn a blind eye.

Heck, even I had to show my passport or a range of ID to work in a company in Aus.

Social Security Cards should have a pic ID of us. Rather than being on some printed paper, they should be at a drivers license equivalent standard.

Edited September 10, 2009 by Booyah!