Posted on 09/20/2017 6:20:43 AM PDT by bitt
Congressional IT staffers do undergo background checks, but if another member wants to hire the same employeeas was the case with Awan and his relativesthey can just sign a form accepting the first members screening.
Somebody has got to do a background check and not have everybody sign a form saying they already had one when no one got them, Gohmert said
Two House Democrats who did not employ Awan or his relatives acknowledged Thursday that no hiring system is infallible, but each member is responsible for screening their own staff in their own way.
Its like 535 separate princely courts, so everyone has their own system, said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. Theres no central system for vetting staff and over the years its by and large mostly worked well.
According to Mark Strand, president of the Congressional Institute and a former longtime Capitol Hill staffer, there are no examinations, qualifications, or certifications required to ensure that technology aides are properly trained.
A member of Congress can hire someone because they like them or they have a good feeling about them, he said.
By design, each member is independent and operates their own staff. They also decide for themselves how strictly they secure data.
The security of information starts with the member themselves and how seriously they take protection of information, Strand said.
James Scott, a senior fellow at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, said the ?potential for damage to national security and access to compromising information is high with poorly-vetted IT staff.
Any contractor, staffer, IT technician, remote administrator, or anyone else with prolonged and/or unrestricted access to Congressional systems can: install malicious programs (custom malware, RATs, keyloggers, etc.); alter sensitive security settings such as remote access or firewall rules; connect unapproved devices or drives; laterally access confidential systems or networks; or exfiltrate valuable data such as emails, schedules, notes, etc., he explained in an email. Any unapproved offsite storage or removal of sensitive information poses a security threat, according to Scott.
The confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data must be secured according to its value, wherever that information is stored, whenever it is transmitted, and however it is processed, he said. Any lesser precaution is dangerously irresponsible and could be criminally negligent.
More ammunition re the criminal behavior of the CongressRats in ITGATE!
Just audit her official House office and financial records, including her payroll, vouchers, expense accounts, office expenditures, travel itinerary, credit card accounts, family finances, campaign income and outgo, personal and office bank accounts, wire-transfers, snail mail, email, electronic devices, hard drives, etc etc etc.and any accounts.
BACKSTORY- It appears that DeGette's IT employee, Imran Awan, ran a theft ring out of the Democratic Congressional Caucus. This scam left a huge paper trail. If DeGette "wrote-off" tech purchases even once, she (and other Democrats who did so) are going to be nailed w/ RICO laws. B/c this is organized crime....no question.
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Here's details of the the "write-off scam that involves just ONE member.
Audits of other members means the numbers of stolen tax dollars could skyrocket.
Imran colluded w/ a viscerally stupid member of Congress to order equipment for her office; he then conspired to have the devices delivered to his home. Imran falsified official govt documents to get himself 150 tech devices from CDW, Government, Inc---the Hill's largest tech supplier.
A PROFILE IN DUMBNESS--Democrat NY Cong Yvette Clarke
unblinkingly agreed to all of this. She then approved a $120k "write-off" of the purchases thus making the money and the devices just disappear.
<><>The tax-paid devices tied to NY Democrat Cong Yvette Clarkes office included some 150 iPhones and iPads.
<><> Priced at $800 each, Democrat Cong Clarke's $120,000 write-off would buy 150 devices.
<><> Cong Clarke's office, according to payroll records, has only 16 employees. Taxpayers might ask why Cong Clarke needed so many electronics for her small staff?
Democrat Cong Clarke's office refused to tell a reporter which staffer signed the form, and why they did not fire the Paki IT at that time, or why they did not alert authorities (not reporting knowledge of a crime IS a crime).
Taxpayers should be aware that Cong Yvette Clarkes chief routinely called a House help desk to inquire about the write-off process but did not ever convey the highly unusual scale of the dollar figure, the official said.
Being scrutinized is a falsified invoicing scheme. The equipment Democrat Yvette Clark ordered (then wrote-off) got shipped ..... not to the Congressional office...... but to Imrans private residence.
Taxpayers should be aware that Democrat Yvette Clark (or high-level staffer with financial responsibility in her office) would have to sign a voucher for each such purchase.
Taxpayers may undoubtedly wonder how Democrat Yvette Clark wouldnt have noticed (A) that tech equipment was being purchased, (B) in large quantities Democrat Clarke might not plausibly need, (C) but never actually materialized at Cong Clarke's office.
NOTO BENE: The $120,000 tech equipment covers only Cong Yvette Clarkes. The Democrats that employed the Paki IT clan have yet to be audited for similar patters. The tax dollars stolen could skyrocket.
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NOTE: anybody can file a RICO----plenty of how-to's on the net.
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ACTION NOW-CONTACT CONGRESS:
Capitol Hill Switchboard 1-866-220-0044
Call President Trump: Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TALKING POINTS: Immediately launch full-scale audits of the House office budgets of Democrat DeGette, Debbie Wassermann Schultz, and all Democrat House members that employed the Awan clan.
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