Morning Smoke: FBI Director Predicts Cyber-Threats the New Terrorism

MORNING SMOKE

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's blog editor

National Security

FBI Director: Cyber-Threats Will Someday Top Terrorism as Leading National Security Worry
Associated Press

No Government Takeover of Internet in GOP Cybersecurity Bill, McCain Says
Josh Smith, Nextgov

Congress Wants a Bigger Navy--Unlike the Navy
Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room

Financial Oversight

Fed Shrugged Off Warnings, Let Banks Pay Shareholders Billions
Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica

SEC Enforcement Story Doesn't Add Up for 2011
Joshua Gallu, Bloomberg

Behind the Crackdown on Insider Trading
Peter J. Henning, The New York Times

Contract Oversight

Senators Go After Waste in Wartime Contracting
Andrew Lapin, Government Executive

Open Government

Judge Issues Rare Order to Release Classified Document
Josh Gerstein, Politico

Open Government vs. Open Data
Joseph Marks, Nextgov

Defensive Standards Hinder FOIA Openness
The FOIA Project

Comments

[Dfens]

Since POGO is against the outsourcing of inherently government jobs, this situation were our Naval forces have declined radically over the last couple of decades should be of great interest to you. Did you realize that back when our Navy had 600 stout, battle worthy ships instead of something less than 300 thinly armored crappy ships like they do now, the Navy designed their own ships? Ever since they started outsourcing the design of their ships to defense contractors, the number of ships being built has dwindled sharply and their cost has gone up alarmingly. Could the solution to this problem be any easier? Isn't it time POGO add this situation to the campaign to stop the outsourcing of government jobs? This is clearly the easiest case that could possibly be made for the in-sourcing government jobs.

Our fleet size has been more than cut in half over the last couple of decades, and it is almost as if no one has noticed it. Both the time and cost of ship development has skyrocketed and no one has said a thing. Thousands of government jobs were outsourced to defense contractors and it was as if it didn't even happen. Now it is obviously working out very badly, and still no one says a thing. What is up with this?