Free Republic

Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioned a top Homeland Security Department official Thursday on why his agency has reportedly resisted sharing information with state intelligence officers and even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's own homeland-security director. Feinstein asked Charlie Allen, the chief intelligence officer for the Homeland Security Department, about her staff's findings that the federal agency has denied state and local officials at a Sacramento intelligence-sharing facility to obtain top security clearances. Moreover, California Office of Homeland Security Director Matthew Bettenhausen is not receiving "intelligence he knows exists," Feinstein said. Bettenhausen answers to Schwarzenegger; he formerly worked for DHS in Washington. DHS, Feinstein...

Industry is cranking up the pressure on the Defense Department to resume processing applications for contractor security clearances by calling on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to immediately resolve the issue. Members of seven industry groups yesterday sent a letter urging Rumsfeld to reverse the Defense Security Services’ decision to stop accepting industry applications for all security clearances. The agency, which provides security support services to the DOD, federal government defense contractors, ceased the activity on April 28, due to a lack of funding and the high volume of applications. “We request that immediate action be taken to reverse this decision...

The Pentagon stopped processing security clearances for government contractors this week, potentially exacerbating a shortage of employees authorized to work on the government's most secret programs. The Defense Security Service blamed overwhelming demand and a budget shortfall for the halt, which caught the government contracting community by surprise. Already, 3,000 applications have been put on hold, said Cindy McGovern, a DSS spokeswoman. "We're holding them [the applications] now to see if we can resolve the issue. The more drastic step would be not accepting them" at all, McGovern said, a step the agency considered but dropped for now. The demand...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...