Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

FBI Becomes the 'Watchers-in-Chief'

The number of people identified by the Obama administration as potential terrorists surged in the past two years, and the FBI now is preparing for another spike as it plans to intensify its scrutiny of foreign visitors and U.S. citizens, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered.

The federal government will hire up to 116 full-time private-contractor personnel to help amass and screen data on persons whose movements or activities are brought to the attention of the Terrorist Screening Center, an FBI-administered interagency unit.

The federal government, starting from the time Obama took office, in various ways has described returning veterans, conservatives, pro-lifers and those who support a constitutional government as potential terrorists.

And in just recent months, through the revelations of document-leaker Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has been shown to be spying on virtually every telephone call made in America.

So TSC’s expansion comes at a time of rising skepticism about President Obama’s public pledge to reform the government’s surveillance and information-collection apparatus.

Such plans are specific to communications-intercept and data-gathering activities at the embattled NSA, still under fire in the wake of operational leaks by former contractor Snowden.

TSC lacks authority to independently collect personal data or communications. As a national repository, however, it receives personal information that local, state, federal and international entities submit about “known or suspected terrorists,” or KSTs.

The centralized Terrorist Watchlist – officially known as the Terrorist Screening Database – uses data from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

According to a project Statement of Work discovered via routine database research, the screen center is staffed by “officials from multiple agencies, including the FBI, DHS, DOS, Transportation and Security Administration, and the United States Customs and Border Protection.”

The FBI is recruiting contractors capable of working with those federal representatives, filling operations-support slots at the center’s Vienna, Va., facility.

Contractors likewise will fill positions at an unidentified “alternate site.”

Analysts and other personnel hired for this endeavor will assess the validity of data submitted or stored on people “associated with terrorism or terrorist activity,” federal documents show.

Part of the screening process includes removing persons from the list.

Indeed, the center “regularly conducts comprehensive and case-specific” data reviews, an FBI Safeguarding Civil Liberties web page states. Such reviews help ensure terrorist identity data is “thorough, accurate, and current,” and meets the federal government’s strict criteria for watch listing, it says.

The center also ensures that “complaints and misidentifications are addressed and any errors are corrected.”

The center’s Operations Branch, which manages center functions around the clock, comprises eight specific work units needing contractor services.

Recent and projected escalations of “encounter” activity necessitate the services, the government says.

The Terrorist Screening Operations Center is one such unit experiencing growth in KST “encounters.”

The unit serves as the “focal point for all domestic and international encounters” with potential terrorists. It provides 24-hour availability to partner screening-agencies, according to the contracting document.

“TSOC currently averages approximately 275 requests for service per day, which represents a 27 percent increase over FY2012 and a 70 percent increase over FY2011 levels,” documents show.

“TSOC anticipates encounter volume will continue to increase at a steady pace.”

Unit personnel assist other agencies via the TSDB, the U.S. government’s “sole consolidated watchlist for information used in terrorism screening.”

Following an operations center “positive encounter” with a person suspected of terrorist affiliation, the Terrorist Screening Operations Unit gets involved.

“When appropriate, TSOU creates and transfers operational assessments to FBI Field Offices for action,” the document says.

TSOU contributes to the database’s accuracy “by conducting research in several databases when a positive encounter is received.”

The Domestic Engagement unit is tasked with alerting the U.S. Intelligence Community and the U.S Law Enforcement Community to the availability of watch-list services.

Part of DE’s mission is to help intelligence and police agencies “utilize watchlist data and manage encounters with watchlisted persons.”

The Intelligence Unit “serves as the information sharing focal point for the TSC.”

IU analyzes and disseminates intelligence data that the Center collects. It assists both domestic and “foreign partners.”

Annually the unit disseminates “over 1,500 raw and finished intelligence products per year to support executive decision making and the USIC/LEC.”

The Terrorist Review & Examination Unit, or TREX, is tasked with “all watchlisting related matters for the FBI.” TREX also is responsible for the timely sharing of information on “FBI international and domestic terrorism investigations” among watch-listing partner agencies.

The Nominations and Data Integrity Unit, or NDIU, which adds and deletes data, averages about 8,700 record reviews weekly, with each initial review taking about seven minutes.

“NDIU anticipates an annual increase in workload volume averaging 10-15 percent per year,” according to the document.

The unit makes “thorough, accurate, and current additions, modifications, and deletions” to the TSDB.

It accomplishes the tasks through what it calls “biographical information validation,” “derogatory information assessment” and “biometric information identification linkage verification.” The document did not define the terms.

Another unit known as the Visa Review and International Liaison screens and identifies visa applicants against the watchlist. The office daily averages 400 service requests, “with an annual workload increase of 10 percent anticipated.”

Other than acknowledging its location “within the continental United States but outside the Northern Virginia or any other major metropolitan area,” little is offered about the “Alternate Site,” a unit that provides center “with the ability to conduct certain mission functions at a more remote location.”

The document also makes clear that contractor employees hired for center operations are forbidden from representing themselves in the capacity of performing “Inherently Governmental Functions.”

If such employees get in situations “where it may be assumed that he or she is an FBI employee, then the contract employee shall identify himself or herself as a contractor.”

The FBI did not disclose the estimated cost of a contract award.

A similar version of this article originally was published Jan. 20, 2014 via WND.com. Under agreement with the publisher, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

Disturbing Truth Behind Obama's Travel Madness (WND)

My latest from WND. -- S.P.

Supporters of Barack Obama tout his dedication to the responsibilities of the presidency by noting that he had taken 96 days of vacation at the point in his term that President George W. Bush had taken a reported 335.

But they admit that 51 of Bush’s trips were to his Texas ranch, while records show that Obama’s destinations have ranged from exotic European and African locales to pricey digs to Hawaii, where he’s sometimes traveled separately from his family, effectively doubling transportation costs for taxpayers.

The records released are partial, meaning no firm travel-expense total can be assembled. But individual cases are revealing.

Continued at WND.com...

ALSO SEE: CNN Rips Off U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor Story on Biden's Plush Parisian Jaunt

 more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/the-disturbing-truth-behind-obamas-travel-junkets/#SMBd76Lp60bvCSCW.99

U.S.-Funded Project Aims to Reverse lmpact of Oligarchy on Nigerian Society

Up to $20 million could get infused into a project whose goal is to reverse the effects of “decades of authoritarian leadership in Nigeria,” the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed today.

According to a draft Statement of Work (SOW), the Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement program, as the agency calls it, will hire a contractor to help achieve the agency’s goals:

through strategic partnerships between civil society coalitions and networks on the one hand, and critical stakeholders in Nigerian society on the other. The latter may include the media, reform minded Nigerian government institutions or representatives, the private sector, as well as other influential public figures. The program will also explicitly aim to engage marginalized populations, such as women, youth, and the disabled in the process and emphasize the importance of leadership and innovation.

USAID is accepting comments on the draft SOW until June 7.

Source document: Solicitation #USAID-Nigeria-620-12-001-PDG.

Photo provided courtesy Smithsonian Institution's National Museaum of African Art.

FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ON THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SEE THE MONITOR'S USAID PAGE.

FOR MORE REGIONAL COVERAGE, SEE THE MONITOR'S NIGERIA PAGE AND  AFRICA PAGE.

GAO: USAID Needs to Assess 'Trade Capacity Building' Assistance Data

Assessments of U.S.-financed “trade capacity building,” or TCB, projects already have been conducted, but the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has thus far failed to take action in response to those evaluations, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded. Consequently, it remains difficult for the government understand why “annual TCB funding has increased from $1.35 billion in 2005 to $1.69 billion in 2010.”

According to the July 28 report, “The United States Provides Wide-ranging Trade Capacity Building Assistance, but Better Reporting and Evaluation Are Needed,” twenty-four U.S. agencies from 2005 to 2010 provided over $9 billion in TCB assistance “to help more than 100 countries reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and achieve stability through trade.” This figure is specific to the loosely defined realm of TCB, rather than to overall foreign aid.

The U.S. government TCB database has reported that annual TCB funding has increased from $1.35 billion in 2005 to $1.69 billion in 2010, but the database does not adequately describe certain factors underlying this growth and other significant changes in the composition of TCB funding…

Clear reporting and transparent methodology and data collection are essential to understanding levels of funding and changes in the nature of TCB over time. USAID has improved its assessment of TCB activities, including developing performance indicators and taking the positive step of commissioning a multicountry evaluation of the effects of TCB, but it has yet to develop plans to make use of the evaluation's valuable insights.

The report acknowledged that USAID claims to have already taken steps to improve its assessment of available data—steps it says are “consistent with the GAO recommendations.”

Source documents:

1) Report highlights

2) Full text of report (.pdf; 65 pages).

U.S. Freezes $350 Million Compact with Malawi in Response to Demonstrator Crackdown

U.S. assistance to Malawi temporarily is being frozen by the U.S. pending an inquiry into that African nation's alleged governmental role in killing protesters, Reuters today reported. Separately, but specific to Malawi, the Monitor continues to await a governmental response to a potential conflict of interest between a federal official who administers U.S. aid to Malawi and his contractor wife who oversees one such program.

According to a press release from the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) -- a U.S. entity tasked with carrying out certain U.S. development assistance projects:

At the core of an MCC partnership is the expectation that countries maintain a demonstrated commitment to political pluralism, human rights, and the rule of law throughout the life of the program.  MCC is deeply concerned by recent events in Malawi and is placing an immediate hold on all program operations in order to review its partnership with Malawi, including whether to recommend to its Board of Directors whether to suspend or terminate its assistance.

MCC signed a five-year, $350 million Compact with the Government of Malawi on April 7, 2011.  The Compact is focused on Malawi’s power sector and is expected to benefit nearly 6 million Malawians.  By reducing power outages and technical losses, enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of hydropower generation, and improving service to electricity consumers, the Compact is designed to reduce energy costs to enterprises and households; improve productivity in the agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors; and support the preservation and creation of employment opportunities in the economy.

MCC’s operational hold will bring to a halt all ongoing Compact activities during the review.

Unrelated to the above-mentioned MCC energy project, the Monitor earlier this year reported on a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grant program that pays for the college educations of Malawi citizens -- a project carried out by World Learning, a contractor whose vice president, Carol Jenkins, is the wife of Robert Jenkins, director of the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (see "Foreigners Get College Paid by U.S. Taxpayers; Wife of Government Official to Manage Tuition Outreach; April 4).

Despite inquiries that the Monitor has made, USAID and World Learning, Mrs. Jenkins' firm, have ignored all communications on the matter. Similarly, Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights  Subcommittee (and who also is the elected representative of this writer's congressional district), has not responded to a request to investigate this potential conflict of interest.

It should be noted, however, that a journalist from a major news organization, who for now will remain anonymous, this past week made an inquiry the Monitor about that report.

FOR ADDITIONAL REGIONAL COVERAGE, PLEASE VISIT THE MONITOR'S AFRICA PAGE.

U.S. Treasury Seeks Help in Mending Economy -- But Whose Economy?

As congressional and White House budget battles rage on along the littered landscape of national financial woes, the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury this week reached to the private sector for help in overseeing the following five areas of activity: (1) economic crimes; (2) government debt issuance and management; (3) budget and financial accountability; (4) banking and financial services, and: (5) revenue policy and revenue administration.

Ironically, this outsourced assistance will not target these problem areas here in the United States; on the contrary, Treasury is looking for help in monitoring these issues in nations such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, and Pakistan, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered.

According to a personal services contract solicitation (#A11-105) dated July 21, the person filling the "Program Officer/Coordinator of Post-Conflict Countries" position will “provide administrative and management support” to advisers that Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance has deployed or will deploy worldwide to a total of thirty countries,

The salary range for this slot is $62,467 to $115,742, depending on experience and education. Treasury is accepting applications until August 1.

Federal Government Seeks to Hire Elections Adviser

Corruption remains endemic, rule of law is not sufficiently respected, and a pervasive culture of impunity undermines the legitimacy and credibility of the government.

As a consequence of the above assessment—which refers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), not the United States—the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking to hire a private contractor to bolster its Congo staff. The Democracy and Governance Officer, as the position is known, would assist existing USAID staffers and “most likely” will work with Congo stakeholders and interested NGOs on upcoming elections.

The solicitation acknowledges that the task will be difficult:

In 2006, following an extended period of economic decline, a brutal civil war that resulted in the deaths of over four million people, and three years of an interim transition government, the [DRC] held elections and inaugurated the first democratically elected government since independence (1960s)…

Presidential and general elections are planned for the end of calendar year 2011, followed by local elections in 2012-13. Access to information is a critical issue for most of the population, which remains largely isolated from the sweeping changes promised under the new Constitution. GDRC lacks the wherewithal to implement development projects without significant donor intervention. The most prevalent access to information is through community based radio.

The selected candidate, according to an agency personnel solicitation (#SOL62309000019), can expect to earn an annual salary in the $71,674-$93,175 range.

New Legislation Seeks to Slash Federal Workforce by 10% -- But Opens Door for White House Waivers

A bill that seeks to reduce the federal workforce by 10% over the next few years was introduced today by House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform Chmn. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) and subcommittee leaders Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

The legislation aims to accomplish that goal by limiting the hiring of one new federal employee for every three who leave their jobs or retire. The Reducing the Size of the Federal Government Through Attrition Act of 2011 (HR-2114) supposedly would save taxpayers $127.5 billion over ten years.

The bill likewise prohibits federal entities from simply awarding contracts to vendors to make up for the loss of personnel.

Chaffetz, who also is a member of the House Budget Committee, said in a joint statement, "The American people deserve a federal government that is smaller, leaner, and more efficient... Private sector job creators and families in my district have learned to do more with less. So should the federal government."

One former government insider who spoke to U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor on condition of anonymity predicted that major departments such as State, Defense, Health & Human Services, and possibly even the Dept. of Commerce likely would evade such cuts if the bill is signed into law.

“They’ll simply claim that matters of national security, economics, or public health preclude them from complying with the law,” according to the source, who had not yet seen the bill.

Indeed, a closer look at the bill’s text reveals that its sponsors already have built such a mechanism into the proposed law.

According to Section 2(e), the White House would be granted the power to approve waivers when it deems necessary::

(e) WAIVER.—

(1) EMERGENCIES.—This section may be waived upon a determination by the President that—

(A) the existence of a state of war or other national security concern so requires; or

(B) the existence of an extraordinary emergency threatening life, health, public safe ty, property, or the environment so requires.

(2) AGENCY EFFICIENCY OR CRITICAL MISSION.—This section may be waived, with respect to a particular position or category of positions in an agency, upon a determination by the President that the efficiency of the agency or the performance of a critical agency mission so requires.

“In the end, we’ll see a savings of millions, maybe, not billions, for the taxpayer,” the source said.