FLE

Official Takes Blame for Passport Mess "Over the past several months, many travelers who applied for a passport did not receive their document in time for their planned travel. I deeply regret that," says Assistant Secretary of State Maura Harty, who is in charge of U.S. passports. "I accept complete responsibility for this." The government started requiring more Americans to have passports on Jan. 23 in an effort to thwart terrorism. By summer, more than 2 million people were waiting for passports; half a million had waited more than three months since applying for a document that typically was ready in six weeks. The massive backlog destroyed summer vacations, ruined wedding and honeymoon plans and disrupted business meetings and education plans. People lost work days waiting in lines or thousands of dollars in nonrefundable travel deposits....
Attorney General Recalls Attempt to Bypass Justice Department Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee he paid a visit to his predecessor in a hospital intensive care room in 2004 at the behest of lawmakers who were urging the administration to find a way to continue conducting “vitally important intelligence activities” without Justice Department approval or new legislation. Lawmakers have assumed that the episode involved the National Security Agency warrantless surveillance program that the New York Times first disclosed in December 2005 and Bush subsequently confirmed. But Gonzales said Tuesday the hospital encounter was not about that program. The attorney general testified before the committee in February 2006 that there had been no serious disagreement among Justice Department officials about the legality of the presidentially confirmed NSA program, which the administration dubbed the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” “The disagreement that occurred, and the reason for the visit to the hospital, senator, was about other intelligence activities,” Gonzales said Tuesday under questioning by committee chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt. “It was not about the terrorist surveillance program that the president announced to the American people.”....
U.S. anti-terrorism bill stalled over immunity for tipsters Major legislation to implement more of the Sept. 11 Commission's anti-terrorism recommendations now hinges on a relatively minor provision: whether U.S. citizens who report suspicious activity should be immune to lawsuits. Passage of the bill would be a sizable victory for Democrats who laid out an ambitious legislative agenda when they took control of Congress. The bill currently in House-Senate negotiations would bring the United States closer to scanning all cargo-containing ships before they leave foreign ports - a measure aimed at preventing a nuclear device from reaching U.S. shores. But it is a smaller issue that has proven to be the biggest headache as lawmakers hammer out the final version. Republicans are demanding that language be added to provide immunity to citizens who report suspicious activity. They referred to an incident last fall where six Muslim scholars were removed from a flight in Minneapolis after other passengers said they were acting suspiciously. The imams have since filed a lawsuit, saying their civil rights were violated....
State-run sites not effective vs. terror More than 40 state-run operations set up after 9/11 to help uncover terrorist plots are proving to be a costly but largely ineffective weapon against terrorism, according to congressional investigators. Homeland Security has given states $380 million to set up the high-tech intelligence centers to help law enforcement officials do what they were not able to do before Sept. 11, 2001: recognize suspicious activity, patterns and people and use the information to prevent terrorist attacks. However, the centers "have increasingly gravitated toward an all-crimes and even broader all-hazards approach," focusing on traditional criminals and local emergencies, according to a report this month by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Built with state and federal money, the "fusion centers" are designed to encourage local, state and federal law enforcement and homeland security officers to share information....
Congressman Denied Access To Post-Attack Continuity Plans Constituents called Rep. Peter DeFazio's office, worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified portion of a White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack. As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure "bubbleroom'' in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents. On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED. "I just can't believe they're going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,'' DeFazio said. Bush administration spokesman Trey Bohn declined to say why DeFazio was denied access: "We do not comment through the press on the process that this access entails. It is important to keep in mind that much of the information related to the continuity of government is highly sensitive.'' Norm Ornstein, a legal scholar who studies government continuity at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he ``cannot think of one good reason'' to deny access to a member of Congress who serves on the Homeland Security Committee....
FEMA keeps selling toxic trailers despite report The Federal Emergency Management Agency will keep selling and donating surplus disaster-relief trailers despite concerns that they may have unhealthy levels of formaldehyde, the agency said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs plan to test the air quality in the trailers. “Potential buyers/recipients will be fully advised of the concerns regarding formaldehyde levels in travel trailers,” FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker said Friday in an e-mail message to The Associated Press. FEMA drew the ire of Congress last week after documents revealed that the agency’s lawyers discouraged investigating reports that the trailers had high formaldehyde levels....
Foster parent gun rules shot down Oregon's child welfare agency did not anticipate the firestorm it would create when it issued new rules regulating guns in state-certified foster homes. Now the agency is backtracking. The National Rifle Association is on alert. And the Oregon Legislature is likely to get involved in the politically volatile matter of balancing an individual's right to have a gun vs. the state's need to protect its most vulnerable children. For years, the state Department of Human Services has required foster parents to store firearms unloaded and ammunition locked away in a separate place. It also prohibited having a loaded gun while transporting a foster child in a car. This year, the agency decided to do away with an exception for people with concealed-weapons permits. And that's when the trouble started....