Is ICGS really gone?

Several contributors to this site maintain ICGS is no more.

If ICGS is gone, why does the ICGS Deepwater site still an active link – explaining Deepwater is managed by ICGS? As the CG is the third and supposedly lead leg here – shouldn’t this site have been changes a wile ago?  The site still lists the cutters under ICGS.

http://www.icgsdeepwater.com/overview/
http://www.icgsdeepwater.com/team/
http://www.icgsdeepwater.com/objectives/cutters/cutters.php

The text below is from the CG-9 Website
http://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/deepwater/default.asp
Why does it list ICGS at all at not just the separate companies?
(Is it because ICGS has the 4 NSCs etc under contract?  Shouldn’t the info on the relevant sites reflect that and not the original relationship?)

I think these sites reflect the reality.  The congressional bills to reform Deepwater and end the LSI’s got hung up by the Republicans.  While the Coast Guard may have taken more of a lead role (It was actually the lead all along) and some offices have apparently been shut down (or have they) it appears that ICGS is legally and contractually intact.

Can someone provide the contractual proof it is not?

Washington Times Corrects Story on Admiral Allen Early Departure

The Coast Guard moved quickly to get the Washington Times to correct a story they published today that seemed to suggest the Commandant of the Coast Guard was being replaced early.

Original Article

Amy Kudwa, acting Homeland Security press secretary, said Miss Napolitano spent her first week meeting with top agency officials. She has asked some – including Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham and Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen – to stay on during the transition period.

New version on the Washington Times website this evening

Amy Kudwa, acting Homeland Security press secretary, said Miss Napolitano spent her first week meeting with top agency officials. She has asked some – including Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham – to stay on during the transition period. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, a nonpolitical employee, will remain in his position.

Commandant seeks philosophical kinship with new Secretary of DHS

by Michael DeKort

From Marine Log

“It was a true honor to have Secretary Janet Napolitano, our new Homeland Security and service secretary, make her first visit to the Coast Guard just one day after being sworn in by President Obama,” said Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allen. “It is clear from watching her and listening to her that we share a common philosophy including a bias for action, transparency, and unity of effort within the department. The Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard are in good hands under her watch.”

Wow – the Commandant equated his leadership skills, ethical fortitude and vision and performance relative to transparency with that of the new Secretary.   I bet the Secretary thinks her philosophy relative to transparency is a hell of a lot higher than the Commandant’s.  I think he inserted way more than his foot in his mouth.  His narcissism is out of control.

Secretary Napolitano asked Admiral Thad Allen to stay during transition period

Secretary Janet Napolitano escorted into Coast Guard Headquarters by Adm. Thad Allen Jan. 22, 2009

Amy Kudwa, acting Homeland Security press secretary, said Secretary Janet Napolitano spent her first week meeting with top agency officials. Those meetings were well publicised in the press and on most agency websites.  As this morning, Coast Guards website still carried the photo at right of Napolitano’s visit to Headquarters.

What hasn’t been widely discussed are some of the more intimate details of each meeting between the Secretary and the agency heads.  Many Bush appointees inside the beltway have been asked to stay on the Obama team during the transition period.

According to Kudwa “She has asked some – including Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham and Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen – to stay on during the transition period.”

Secretary Napolitano’s Press Secretary’s interview with the Washington Times was the first sign that President Obama will nominate a new Coast Guard Commandant.  Coast Guard has been increasingly under fire from members of congress over their failed Deepwater Acquisition program.  Former Secretary Michael Chertoff shielded Allen from calls he be replaced.  Chertoff’s support was important in a Bush administration where the President relied on his cabinet secretaries to clean their own houses.

With Chertoff gone, it’s possible that neither Napolitano or the new President are willing carry the risk.

Coast Guard Hero Bernie Webber dies in Florida

Bernie Webber, who helped rescue 32 people off the coast of Chatham in 1952, died this weekend at his Florida home. Webber, 80, was one of four Coast Guard crew members who braved storm-ravaged Cape waters on Feb. 18, 1952, after the 503-foot tanker Pendleton broke in two.

Read more here.

Secretary Napolitano Issues Additional Action Directives on Cyber Security and Northern Border Strategy

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today issued a second round of action directives on cyber security and the northern border strategy.

These action directives instruct specific offices to gather information, review existing strategies and programs, and to provide oral and written reports back to her by mid February. In the coming days, Secretary Napolitano will continue to issue additional action directives focused on the missions critical to the department: Protection, Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Immigration.

“This continuing evaluation will unify our shared efforts and help me assess where improvements need to be made,” said Secretary Napolitano.

The full action directives are below:

• Cyber Security. Given the increasingly sophisticated number of threats to all areas of national cyberspace and considering the authorities provided by the Homeland Security Act, the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23/National Security Presidential Directive 54, what are the authorities and responsibilities of DHS for the protection of the government and private sector domains, what are the relationships with other government agencies, especially the departments of Defense, Treasury, and Energy, and the National Security Agency, and what are the programs and timeframes to achieve the department’s responsibilities and objectives? An oral report is due by Feb. 3, with a final report due Feb. 17.
• Northern Border Strategy. The northern border of the United States has become, since 9/11, important to our national security. As we have designed programs to afford greater protection against unlawful entry, members of Congress and homeland security experts have called for increased attention to the Canadian border. What are the current vulnerabilities, the overall strategy for reducing those vulnerabilities, the requirements, the programs, the budget, and the timeframe for improving security along this border and what level of risk will remain once the programs are completed? An oral report is due by Feb. 10, with a final report due Feb. 17.

Now Comes Lilly Ledbetter

from The White House Blog

For incoming White House staff, the past few days have been a singularly thrilling — and learning — experience. Wide-eyed staffers roam the halls of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with thick stacks of HR paperwork in hand, new phone numbers are being memorized — and the line for coffee and club sandwiches is starting to grow as word spreads about the White House Mess. It’s safe to say that working at the White House isn’t something anyone can prepare for, but the career staff continue to work tirelessly to make the first few days as smooth as possible.

The new media team is coming online as well and our first priority is digging into this new website: improving some of the basic press office functions (like the timely posting of press releases, executive orders, etc.), developing content from other parts of the Administration to share with you and mapping out a plan for technology development. Thanks to heroic supporting roles by the Office of Administration’s web and IT team (career government employees who span administrations), we were able to launch the new website. Now we begin the task of moving it forward.

George L. Wallace Jr. Coast Guard veteran and fly fisherman

From the Balitmore Sun

George L. Wallace Jr., a Coast Guard veteran who was stationed in Hawaii in its early days of statehood and a longtime fly-fishing enthusiast, died of lung cancer Jan. 16 at his daughter’s home in Arnold. He was 69.

Mr. Wallace was born in Baltimore to a seamstress and a mill foreman and grew up on North Robinson Street on the city’s east side. In 1957, he graduated from Mount St. Joseph High School, and he joined the Coast Guard that year.

Entire Obituary here.

TEMPEST – LM requirement or not – second round of data

by Michael DeKort

The list below is from the various requirements docs that were the system of record when we started.  As you can see specific TEMPEST standards, supporting standards and specific secure circuit needs and crypto types are called out. (Some are more relative to IA standards – however there is relevance) We bought and installed all of these systems and crypto on the 123s – the System of Systems precursor for all the following surface assets.  As I said before Lockheed was trying to split hairs.  They wanted to deliver the classified systems without the parts they didn’t want like TEMPEST.  While the specs could have been better my point to them was that when you sign up to the systems and equipment you sign up to providing the right environment.

As you saw from my last email that was the position of the Coast Guard.  It appears that things changed over time.  However, as far as I know these systems and equipment are on the NSC.  Somewhere along the line the CG rolled over.  Lockheed is probably arguing the requirements were “guidance” and as such not binding.  While removing the “shall” and “will” language is a mistake I do not think it is an insurmountable legal hurdle.  Lockheed asked for the language relief to ensure they could provide the optimal solution.  They are on the record stating this on many occasions.  As such I think they assume the binding part of “will” and “shall” relative to minimal best practice standards – at the very least.