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Saturday, March 23, 2013
THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ISLAMIC TERRORIST IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS ALL OUR TROOPS DEAD
General Amos Warns His Marines: 'Save Every Round, Every Gallon of Gas': http://youtu.be/RoG-jBH9yOE via @youtube I HOLD EVERY CONGRESS MAN FOR THE DEATHS OF OUR TROOPS OBAMA MUST BE STOP AND BY YOU NOT INPEACHING HIM YOU ARE ALL HELD RESPOSIBAL FOR THEY DEATHS
Official’s Lawsuit Claims Discrimination Against Men at U.S. Immigration Agency
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: August 21, 2012
A discrimination and retaliation lawsuit has embroiled the upper reaches of the federal government’s immigration
enforcement agency, contributing to a sense of turmoil in a bureaucracy
that has been suffering major labor conflicts between senior officials
and employees.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
A lawsuit by James T. Hayes Jr. names Janet
Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary, as the defendant. He says
he was moved out of a position in favor of a less-qualified woman.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
James T. Hayes Jr.
The lawsuit, filed by a top federal immigration official in New York,
alleges that he was shunted out of a high-level position in the agency
in favor of a less-qualified woman because he was a man.
The official, James T. Hayes Jr., also accuses the agency’s chief of
staff, Suzanne Barr, of “sexually offensive behavior” that contributed
to a discriminatory work environment for male employees.
Last week, Ms. Barr stepped down from her post and voluntarily left the
agency on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal review of the
misconduct allegations, a spokesman said.
The charges by Mr. Hayes have added to a sense of unrest in the agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
The union that organizes more than 7,000 enforcement agents, the National ICE Council,
has been openly critical of the leadership of the agency’s director,
John Morton, and resistant to policy changes he has introduced. The head
of the union has accused Mr. Morton, who was appointed in 2009, of
failing to consult with agents in the field about the effect of the new
policies.
Last week the union posted a petition
on its Web site asking for public support for ICE officers who are
“upholding the law.” As of Tuesday morning it had more than 55,000
signatures.
The discrimination lawsuit, which names Janet Napolitano,
the Homeland Security secretary, as the sole defendant, was filed in
May by Mr. Hayes, special agent in charge of investigations for the
agency’s New York office.
In the lawsuit, Mr. Hayes claims he was shoved out of a senior-level
management position to make way for a less-qualified woman and then
suffered retaliation when he threatened to file a discrimination
complaint.
In addition, he accuses Ms. Barr of contributing to a sexualized office culture hostile to men.
Ms. Barr, the lawsuit alleges, “created a frat house-type atmosphere
that is targeted to humiliate and intimidate male employees.”
Men make up a majority of the leadership at ICE.
Mr. Hayes’s lawyer, Morris Eli Fischer, said other ICE employees had
filed affidavits in support of Mr. Hayes’s lawsuit, also alleging
inappropriate behavior by Ms. Barr. Until Mr. Hayes’s lawsuit, however,
no employee had filed a sexual harassment complaint against Ms. Barr,
said a federal official who requested anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak on the record about the case.
Mr. Hayes first accused the agency of discrimination last year in a
formal complaint to its Equal Employment Opportunity office, according
to court documents. That complaint, however, did not include any sexual
harassment allegations.
Brian Hale, director of public affairs for ICE, said the agency “will
respond directly and strongly to this lawsuit in court.” He added that
the misconduct allegations were referred to internal affairs
investigators at Homeland Security and ICE.
Federal lawyers filed a motion last week to dismiss the lawsuit on
grounds that it failed to present sufficient facts to justify the
claims.
Mr. Hayes began his federal career in 1995 as a border patrol agent in
Texas and quickly ascended the ranks of the federal immigration
bureaucracy. In September 2008, he was promoted to head the agency’s
detention and removal operations, managing a staff of 8,500 and a budget
of about $2.5 billion, according to the lawsuit.
But Mr. Hayes contends that he was soon supplanted in meetings by Dora
B. Schriro, who was appointed in February 2009 as a special adviser to
Ms. Napolitano for detention and removal operations.
Mr. Hayes contends that he was “being replaced in his duties” in part
because “he was not female,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed
in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Mr. Hayes claims that Ms. Schriro was unqualified for the job because
she lacked federal law enforcement experience. Ms. Schriro had
previously served as head of both Missouri’s and Arizona’s correction
departments. She left Homeland Security in 2009 and is currently the
commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction.
Mr. Hayes sought a transfer to Los Angeles, the lawsuit contends, but his request was denied.
When he threatened to file an internal discrimination complaint, the
lawsuit says, the agency opened four misconduct investigations against
him and reopened two others “to intimidate him,” the lawsuit says.
He was eventually transferred to New York in late 2009 “at a substantial
financial loss,” he claims, and is suing to recover $335,000 in moving
costs, unpaid relocation bonuses and lost wages. Mr. Hayes, Ms. Barr nor
Ms. Schriro could be reached for comment, though a spokesman for Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement that Ms. Schriro’s appointment
at ICE was “based on merit.”
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Solicitation Number: HSBP1005R0425
Agency: Department of Homeland Security
Office: United States Secret Service (USSS)
Location: Procurement Division
Office: United States Secret Service (USSS)
Location: Procurement Division
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decision-makers. This Is the New Spy Plane of the US Navy
By
Jun 15, 2012 7:00 PM
This Is the New Spy Plane of the US Navy
The
US Navy just got a new spy plane. It name is MQ-4C Triton, and it has
been created by Northrop Grumman for "maritime Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance data collection and dissemination
capability to the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force."
The Navy says that their new drone will be used for sea "surveillance, collection of enemy order of battle information, battle damage assessment, port surveillance, communication relay, and support of the following missions - maritime interdiction, surface warfare, battlespace management, and targeting for maritime and littoral strike missions."
If it looks familiar is because it is based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Like its US Air Force sibling, these things are really huge, with a 130.9-foot wingspan. They are long-range too: Northrop Grumman claims that it can do "large maritime distances for long periods of time for up to five simultaneous orbits worldwide."
The only think that puzzles me is that the Navy is getting them just after the USAF announced that they are mothballing all its Global Hawk fleet, citing cost problems and less than optimal results.
Perhaps the difference is that the new Triton comes with the AN/ZPY-3 multi-function active-sensor, a completely new 360 degree radar system that is supposed to be much better than the sensors in the Global Hawk. [US Navy]
The Navy says that their new drone will be used for sea "surveillance, collection of enemy order of battle information, battle damage assessment, port surveillance, communication relay, and support of the following missions - maritime interdiction, surface warfare, battlespace management, and targeting for maritime and littoral strike missions."
If it looks familiar is because it is based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Like its US Air Force sibling, these things are really huge, with a 130.9-foot wingspan. They are long-range too: Northrop Grumman claims that it can do "large maritime distances for long periods of time for up to five simultaneous orbits worldwide."
The only think that puzzles me is that the Navy is getting them just after the USAF announced that they are mothballing all its Global Hawk fleet, citing cost problems and less than optimal results.
Perhaps the difference is that the new Triton comes with the AN/ZPY-3 multi-function active-sensor, a completely new 360 degree radar system that is supposed to be much better than the sensors in the Global Hawk. [US Navy]
Agents Take Pay Cuts, Detainees Get Hair Cuts
Agents Take Pay Cuts, Detainees Get Hair Cuts
Millions spent on providing detained illegal immigrants with creature comforts as DHS cuts agent pay
Detainees play soccer at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia / AP
Border patrol agents are facing salary cuts, gas rationing, and other constraints in the face of budget cuts driven by the sequester even as detained illegal immigrants live in detention centers replete with comforts.
No announced cuts have been made for amenities at detention centers, which include taxpayer-funded health care, dental services, barber services, and bingo and movie nights. Funds for the detention centers come from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
ICE and DHS are under fire for the release of more than 2,200 illegal immigrants from detention, some of which were level one offenders and had to be re-apprehended.
The amenities afforded detained illegal immigrants are numerous and are part of the Obama administration’s detention reform initiative. Over the past four years, millions have been spent revamping detention centers.
One such center is the Karnes County Civil Detention Facility in Texas that opened last year at a $32 million cost to taxpayers. Tours of the facility were given to reporters, and their stories depict a college-like setting in which detainees are housed in dorms or suites that hold eight.
Each is equipped with a television and private bathroom. Soccer fields, basketball courts, and other recreation areas, in addition to a computer lab with Internet access and legal resources, are all available to illegal immigrants.
“Detainees will be free to move through much of the center 24 hours a day. Unarmed staff members, dressed in blue polo shirts and khaki trousers, are known as ‘resident advisers,’ not guards,” according to a New York Times report.
Other detention centers have also been revamped, including one in Essex County, N.J., which has robust indoor and outdoor recreation.
The spending on such amenities for detainees by one DHS agency, while border patrol agents face cuts in their salaries of up to 40 percent by another agency of DHS, does not sit well with the border patrol union.
“It’s another case of misplaced priorities at the highest level of this agency,” said Stuart Harris, vice president of Local 1929 of the National Border Patrol Council in El Paso, Texas.
“It is highly frustrated for our members, when prisoners [are being taken well care of],” said Shawn Moran, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council. “Agents are facing the loss of their homes. It’s a huge frustration for us.”
Border patrol agents are bearing the brunt of the sequester cuts and face 14 furlough days beginning next month as well as cuts in overtime.
Harris said agents have approached him more frequently in recent weeks, saying they are afraid they will lose their homes since they will be unable to pay their mortgages. Others have asked if they should start looking for another job.
“The administration is making politically motivated, rather than fiscally responsible, selective cuts to immigration enforcement in order to advance its unpopular immigration policy agenda,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies, in an email to the Washington Free Beacon.
“It chose to release thousands of immigration detainees, at least thirty percent of whom had been arrested for crimes, and to remove border patrol agents from duty, rather than find ways to cut expenses in a way that would not compromise their mission,” Vaughan said.
She added that the agency had more than $100 million in a surplus account. That would be enough to cover the sequestration cuts, “which they have now acknowledged that they could have tapped instead.”
Border agents are now dealing with gas rationing. Some agents are being doubled up in vehicles.
Moran said all this will “decrease our effectiveness.”
Harris said agents in his region are being loaded into vans and taken to vehicles in the field at each post. Agents must complete their shift in eight hours, even if it means they are in pursuit of drug smugglers in the field.
“They are limiting what agents can do,” Harris said. “It’s a hard pill for many agents to swallow. Border patrol agents take pride in what they do. If I’m out in the field, going after drug smugglers, I have to stop whatever I’m doing. They want us to do that.”
A review of administrative salaries of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows 1,000 people make between $123,758 and $224,625 per year.
“We look at the CBP and see wasteful spending,” Moran said, citing a $237 million no-bid contract for 14 more unmanned aerial vehicles, which he said not one agent he knows has operated.
Vaughan pointed to other expenses that ICE could cut that do not impact public safety. They include: the travel and entertainment budget; the chauffeur-driven limos for mid-level political appointees; investigations on matters such as stolen antiquities, counterfeit DVDs, and NFL jerseys; free refills and movie nights in jails; and the office of the Public Advocate, “which spends most of its resources advocating for illegal aliens.”
According to Vaughan, CBP does not “need to force the Border Patrol to absorb such a large share of the sequester exercise. They should look at headquarter expenses as well, and slight cuts at the ports of entry where the effect would be a slight inconvenience to travelers, rather than the safety of U.S. communities.”
Border patrol agents, whose morale is now at an all-time low, feel the leadership in the DHS is lacking.
“All Border Patrol agents take an oath of office to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States of America,” Harris said.
“Now, DHS and CBP, by way of their sequestration plans, are not going to allow us to uphold that oath or stay true to what we swore we would do. There simply is not any leadership in this organization. We have plenty of managers, but apparently those at the top have never heard the phrase ‘lead from the front.’”
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
DHS Budget Cuts not Impacting Perks at Illegal-Alien Detention Centers
DHS Budget Cuts not Impacting Perks at Illegal-Alien Detention Centers
Friday, March 22, 2013, 11:18 AM EDT
Last year, DHS opened up the Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas that reporters described as a "college-like setting in which detainees are housed in dorms or suites that hold eight." The reports said each suite had a private bathroom and television, and the complex had several recreation areas including soccer fields and basketball courts and had computer labs with Internet access and legal resources.
A New York Times report said, "Detainees will be free to move through much of the center 24 hours a day. Unarmed staff members, dressed in blue polo shirts and khaki trousers, are known as 'resident advisors,' not guards."
The reports adds that its not just the Texas facility that has these comforts for illegal-alien detainees. Older facilities have also been upgraded to to include indoor and outdoor recreation facilities.
"It is highly frustrated for our members, when prisoners [are being taken well care of]," said Shawn Moran, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council. "Agents are facing the loss of their homes. It’s a huge frustration for us."
For more information, see the Free Beacon.
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