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Homeland Security Loses Two Managers
by Sarah Lai Stirland
The Homeland Security Department lost more of its management brass last week, when two top officials handed President Bush their letters of resignation.
Both Elaine Dezenski, the acting assistant secretary for policy development, and Management Undersecretary Janet Hale announced their departures. Both of them had worked through the department's transition between Homeland Security chiefs last year. Successors -- either temporary or permanent -- have yet to be named.
Dezenski reported to Assistant Policy Secretary Stewart Baker. Dezenski was appointed as deputy assistant secretary for policy and planning in the border and transportation security directorate in 2004 but quickly became versed in visa-related issues in the policy shop.
"For her, the hardest part was that she came in with a real focus on transportation and cargo issues but ended up spending time on visa and immigration issues," said Stewart Verdery, a principal at the Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti lobbying firm. "It wasn't her background, but she was able to be a quick study," added Verdery, who hired Dezenski when he was the department's assistant secretary.
Dezenski was in charge of a wide range of security policy issues, including border and transportation security, intelligence and information-sharing procedures, and screening procedures. She worked with State Department and European Union officials on visa issues, such as implementation of the Western hemisphere travel initiative. That project mandates that all Americans and foreigners use passports when crossing U.S. borders.
The visa-waiver program that the United States operates in conjunction with the governments of 27 countries also fell under Dezenski's bailiwick. The program allows foreign visitors to travel to the United States for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining visas.
Congress mandated that the citizens of those visa-waiver countries carry passports with biometric identifiers such as fingerprints. Neither Homeland Security nor several of the European countries were able to implement the required technological scheme in time for last year's October deadline, so it was extended for another year.
Nevertheless, Maine Republican Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, praised Dezenski's overall track record. Collins in particular pointed to Dezenski's work on securing cargo and supply chains and on the visa-waiver program.
"Elaine Dezenski has played a key role in building the policy foundations of the Department of Homeland Security," she said in a statement. "From her work helping create the Transportation Security Administration to her current role as acting assistant secretary for policy development, her leadership has been instrumental in shaping the department's principal initiatives."
Dezenski's former boss also holds her in high regard. Verdery said she was always prepared for the "brutal" hours demanded by the job and had "an incredibly strong drive to do the right thing to bring as many people to the table as possible, in order to hash through things to get good results."
There was no official word on either Hale or Dezenski's next moves. Department spokesman Brian Doyle said "[Dezenski] is taking a little time off, but she has a number of options that she's weighing."
In a March 2004 profile of Hale, Technology Daily's sister publication Government Executive characterized the scope of the undersecretary's duties as "mind boggling." Her primary function was to stitch together 22 agencies' operations. That meant making human resources management consistent across all those agencies, making various information technology systems work together and establishing a unified procurement policy.
Hale first joined DHS from the Health and Human Services Department, where she was assistant secretary for budget, technology and finance.
Sens. Hatch, Nelson Earn Kudos From ITI
While only a third of the way through 2006, the Information Technology Industry Council already has named Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ben Nelson as their "Legislators of the Year."
The vote of confidence derived from ITI's tech voting guide for the 108th Congress. Both legislators scored a perfect 100 percent for that session.
"Many legislators talk about the importance of technology, but Orrin Hatch and Ben Nelson have been consistent and reliable leaders," ITI President Rhett Dawson said. "Year after year, issue after issue, Senators Nelson and Hatch have shown a commitment to promoting high-tech growth and knocking down barriers to innovation."
ITI praised Hatch, R-Utah, for pushing legislation to expand the research and development tax credit, and Nelson, D-Neb., for his role in the Democrats' formulation of policies to support innovation and economic growth.
ITI's scorecard focused on lawmaker votes on 10 bills that covered issues such as trade agreements, defense appropriations, junk e-mail, accounting rules for employee stock options, and fee changes at the Patent and Trademark Office.
The scorecard did not mention work on legislation that never made it to a vote, such as Hatch's controversial proposal during the 108th Congress to make technology companies liable for the file-sharing activities of their customers.
FCC's Tate Hires Senate Telecom Aide
FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate last week announced that she has hired John Grant as her special adviser for policy.
Grant comes to the FCC from the office of Sen. Lamar Smith, R-Tenn., where he was a legislative assistant. While working for Smith, Grant worked on the Senate Budget Committee, as well as on policy issues that ranged from telecommunications to taxes. Grant also attends Georgetown University Law School and graduates in May 2007.
Also last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., appointed California Republican Darrell Issa, a former car-alarm entrepreneur, to replace disgraced former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, also a California Republican, on the House Intelligence Committee. Cunningham resigned last November after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from defense contractors. A California judge in early March sentenced him to an eight-year prison stint.
"Darrell's strong background in intelligence and military training will make him an asset to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence," Hastert said in a statement.
Issa joined the army in his senior year in high school and retired in 1980 with the rank of captain. According to his congressional biography, Issa worked as a bomb-disposal technician, tank platoon commander, and computer research and development specialist while in the Army.
In Search Of Divine Telecom Intervention
Does the House Energy and Commerce Committee have a direct line to God?
That question came to mind last week when, during the course of reporting a story for Technology Daily, special correspondent David Hatch asked House press aides whether committee members had crafted a telecom reform bill with the intent of bypassing House Judiciary Committee jurisdiction.
Energy and Commerce Staff Director Larry Neal responded: "Well, telecom jurisdiction is rarely far from our thoughts and always in our prayers, and maybe that's why we're blessed with a generous share. Others pray, too, and all prayers are noticed, but evidently not all get answered. No dropped calls here at the telecom committee, though."
Quote Of The Week
"Is a troll a scary thing under a bridge, or is it a fishing technique?"
-- Justice Anthony Kennedy, as he questioned an attorney for eBay during oral arguments in case involving injunctions against patent-licensing companies derided as "patent trolls."
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