Navy Replaces All Sailors With Overpaid Contractors To Cut Costs

[longknife]

by drew

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus

NORFOLK, VA – Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus went on a tour of the USS San Antonio today to promote his new initiative to separate all enlisted sailors and replace them with civilian contractors. “This is a great way to save the Navy money,” Mabus said as he explained the reasoning behind the pending decision. “Every sailor costs the Navy roughly $300,000 a year, so we decided to give them all generous separation packages and rehire them as contractors at double their enlisted salary. It won’t cost a thing to recruit or train them.”

Many observers noted that Mabus has ignored the fact that they were previously recruited and trained by the military.

Read more: Navy Replaces All Sailors With Overpaid Contractors To Cut Costs | The Duffel Blog
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[waltky]

Somebody needs to do a better job of vetting IT contractors...

Alexis and Snowden: Both IT Contractors, No College--But Security Clearances
September 17, 2013 – Aaron Alexis, the alleged gunman in the Washington Navy Yard shootings, and accused secrets-leaker Edward Snowden who now lives somewhere in Russia, had several things in common: neither had a college degree; both worked in IT for a federal contractor; and both received security clearances.

Alexis, killed in the Sept. 16 rampage, had a “secret clearance,” according to his employer, The Experts Inc., a subcontractor that was helping Hewlett-Packard service the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. CNN quotes Navy officials as saying Alexis was employed as an information technology contractor. Reuters quotes Thomas Hoshko, CEO of The Experts, Inc., as saying “He [Aaron Alexis] did have a secret clearance.” Hoshko also says Alexis had been issued a CAC (Common Access Card), allowing him access to the installation. Hoshko told Reuters that Alexis had worked for the firm in Japan from September 2012 to January 2013, and had recently been re-hired to work at the Washington Navy Yard in information technology after a background investigation was re-run in July of this year.

Reuters quotes Navy officials as saying Alexis received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy reserve in 2011, despite a series of incidents involving misconduct and insubordination. Alexis murdered 12 people, and was himself shot and killed. Alexis was arrested in 2004 in Seattle, Wash., after being charged with firing three shots into a car parked near his house In addition, Alexis was arrested in 2010 and charged with firing a bullet through the floor of his upstairs neighbor’s apartment in Fort Worth, Texas. Edward Snowden, an IT specialist, and former CIA- and NSA-employee, is accused of leaking information from several top-secret U.S and British-government intelligence programs. He was employed in the IT field as a “systems administrator” for Booz Allen Hamilton, a National Security Agency sub-contractor until June 2013, for less than three months. *

On June 14, 2013, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. Snowden left the country and is now living at a secret-location in Russia. Both Snowden and Alexis were employed in the IT field through private contractors and were able to get federal government security clearances. Both men also had never graduated from college. Alexis graduated from high school in New York City, and was pursuing a degree (online) from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Snowden did not complete high school but did obtain a diploma by taking an equivalency test, or GED. NBC News reports that Snowden attended Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland where he took computer courses. Snowden reportedly did not have a criminal background. He was employed by a National Security Agency contractor even though there apparently were “discrepancies on his resume.” Snowden's background investigation was conducted by USIS, an independent contractor based in the Washington, D.C. area. USIS defends its investigation of Snowden, saying “sponsoring agencies, not background investigation contractors, determine the suitability of an individual for getting or retaining a security clearance."

- See more at: Alexis and Snowden: Both IT Contractors, No College--But Security Clearances | CNS News

See also:

Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter
Thursday, September 19,`13 ~ USIS, the Falls Church government contractor that handled the background check for national security leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his secret-level clearance in 2007.

The company, which is under criminal investigation over whether it misled the government about the thoroughness of its background checks, said earlier this week that it hadn’t handled Alexis’s case. USIS spokesman Ray Howell said the company got new information Thursday. “Today we were informed that in 2007, USIS conducted a background check of Aaron Alexis” for the Office of Personnel Management, Howell said in a statement. “We are contractually prohibited from retaining case information gathered as part of the background checks we conduct for OPM and therefore are unable to comment further on the nature or scope of this or any other background check.”

USIS, which was spun off from the federal government in the 1990s, has become the largest private provider of government background checks. With 7,000 employees, the company handles about 45 percent of all background checks for the OPM, congressional staffers say. Despite the investigation, there was no indication Thursday that USIS did anything improper when it vetted Alexis. A statement late Thursday by the OPM division that handles security checks for most federal agencies said that “OPM has reviewed the 2007 background investigation file for Aaron Alexis, and the agency believes that the file was complete and in compliance with all investigative standards."

The statement by Mert Miller, the associate director of OPM’s Federal Investigative Services, acknowledged that Alexis’s background investigation was carried out “with support from a Government contractor, USIS.” "OPM’s involvement with matters related to Aaron Alexis’ security clearance ended when we submitted the case to the Department of Defense (DoD) for adjudication in December 2007,” Miller’s statement said. “DoD did not ask OPM for any additional investigative actions after it received the completed background investigation."

MORE

Related:

More Details Emerge About Navy Yard Gunman
September 19, 2013 ~ The Washington Navy Yard will resume mostly normal operations Thursday, as investigators continue to look into the background of the man who carried out this week's deadly shooting rampage.

All buildings will reopen on the military complex except Building 197, where Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people Monday before he was killed in a shootout with police. The Department of Veterans Affairs says the former Navy reserve sailor visited two V.A. hospitals just weeks before the shootings, complaining of insomnia. Alexis was prescribed sleep medication during both visits, and told doctors he did not feel depressed or anxious, and was not thinking of hurting himself or others. Investigators earlier revealed Alexis was undergoing treatment at a V.A. for mental health issues, claiming he heard voices.

Red flags

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says officials missed "red flags," or warning signs, about Alexis' past history of violent incidents and misconduct both before and during his four-year Navy service, which ended in 2011. Despite these signs, Alexis received a security clearance that allowed him to be hired as an information technology specialist by a private defense contractor, and maintained it despite his mental health issues. Hagel also ordered a security review of all U.S. military facilities worldwide.

Alexis' mother, Cathleen Alexis, issued a tearful statement Wednesday from her home in New York City. Monday's violence is the latest in a rash of deadly mass shootings in the United States. During an interview on the Spanish language television network Telemundo, President Barack Obama called on Congress to approve new gun control measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Obama will attend a memorial service for the victims that has been scheduled for Sunday.

More Details Emerge About Navy Yard Gunman

 

[SteadyMercury]

It is still astounding to see anyone would read that blog and repeat it believing it was real. If Longknife's IQ is over 80 I'd be amazed.