a surprise update of sorts
Apr. 14th, 2006 01:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rktlet me get this straight ... being a homo is BAD being a pedophile is OK.
god bless america.
stories below for educational purposes behind the cut.
Dems criticize Bush’s security policy for gays
White House revises sexual orientation language on granting clearance
Updated: 12:02 p.m. ET March 16, 2006
The White House said Wednesday a revised policy on granting security clearances to gays and lesbians does not reflect a change in how the government will treat sexual orientation.
But several Democrats denounced the new rules.
“The Bush administration is waging a covert war on loyal federal employees who happen to be gay,” said California Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.
The administration rewrote a 1997 regulation that had said sexual orientation “may not be used as a basis” for denying clearances or determining whether individuals should be eligible to access classified information unless it could make them vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.
Updated language
President Bush’s updated language says security clearances cannot be denied “solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual.”
If sexual behavior is “strictly private, consensual and discreet,” that could lessen security concerns, according to the regulations that came as part of an update to clearance guidelines distributed in December.
Gay rights activists said the change could open the door to added attention on sexual
orientation — and discrimination.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the new language stems from a 1995 executive order aimed at preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. He insisted no language has been removed and that the new rules are similar to the old ones.
“There’s no change in our policy,” McClellan said. “I think that they updated the language to reflect exactly what was spelled out in the executive order.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s Republican staff director, Bill Duhnke, said the Clinton and Bush regulations have the same effect, although they approach the issue in slightly different ways. “It’s a controversy without substance,” he said.
Blackmail concerns
Neither allows someone’s sexual orientation to be used by itself, Duhnke said, but in both cases some other behavior must give the government pause. If someone were trying to hide the fact that they are gay, for instance, he or she could be susceptible to coercion or blackmail.
Security clearances “are a privilege, not a right. They are granted on the discretion of the executive branch,” Duhnke said.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., both requested briefings on the issue, their aides said.
Other lawmakers were critical.
Waxman and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the revisions come as the administration has refused to enforce a policy that protects federal employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The administration has rejected the allegations.
Frank: A step backward
Frank, who is gay, said the administration is taking a step backward by changing the Clinton-era protections on security clearances. Frank said it is too soon to know the impact.
“Of course, sexual misbehavior could be grounds for denying a security clearance,” he said. “But that’s irrelevant as to whether the misbehavior is gay or straight, unless you think that sexual behavior by gay people is inherently misbehavior.”
A second openly gay lawmaker, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., urged the White House to rescind the guidelines. “Sexual orientation has no relevance to a person’s reliability, trustworthiness or ability to protect classified information,” she said.
Several million civilian and military personnel have security clearances that require lengthy background checks. Investigators look at whether applicants have shown signs, including drug use, criminal activity and sexual behavior, that they could be a security risk.
Steve Ralls, spokesman for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said his organization is going to watch closely to be sure the White House follows through on its assurances about the new rules.
“We want to be sure sexual orientation is not used as a road block for security clearance approval,” said Ralls, whose group advises gay military personnel on how to answer questions during the background checks.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858332/
and
Homeland official charged in online sex sting
Agency's deputy press secretary arrested for soliciting a child on Internet
Updated: 10:13 a.m. ET April 5, 2006
MIAMI - A deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was charged with using a computer to seduce a child after authorities said he struck up sexual conversations with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Brian J. Doyle, 55, the fourth-ranking official in the department’s public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday.
“He said last night that he was going to waive extradition. If he does that, we may have him back by the end of the week,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. “He could get to court today and some lawyer may say ’no, you don’t want to do that.’ The bottom line is we don’t know when he’s coming back.”
Authorities arrested Doyle on Tuesday at his Silver Spring, Md., home as he was online with the “girl.” The undercover detective had called Doyle at work and said she got a Web camera, as he had asked her to do, and wanted to test it out, said Carrie Rodgers, Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
“He said he would get on the computer when he got home from work so we knew he would be on,” Rodgers said. “When (police) went to his door, he was on the computer in the middle of a conversation with the girl.”
Sexually explicit conversations, movie clips
Doyle found the teenager’s profile online and began having sexually explicit conversations with her on the Internet on March 14, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
He sent her pornographic movie clips, as well as non-sexual photos of himself, officials said. One of the photos, released by the sheriff’s office, shows Doyle in what appears to be DHS headquarters. He is wearing a Homeland Security pin on his lapel and a lanyard that says “TSA.”
The Transportation Security Administration is part of the Homeland Security Department.
During online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, who he worked for and offered his office and government-issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff’s office said.
On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.
He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center. Doyle also faces a charge of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle’s government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.
Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation.
“We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with this ongoing investigation,” Knocke said.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12165485/
funny story about this post, i thought it had disappeared in a puff of smoke after i first composed it. i was not going to re-do it. that was way earlier this week. now, i opened up lj to say i did go to barnard, but i was going to defer a few more days in updating so as to actually have my notes and computer in the same place. so i'm saying that now, after the rest of this post.
god bless america.
stories below for educational purposes behind the cut.
Dems criticize Bush’s security policy for gays
White House revises sexual orientation language on granting clearance
Updated: 12:02 p.m. ET March 16, 2006
The White House said Wednesday a revised policy on granting security clearances to gays and lesbians does not reflect a change in how the government will treat sexual orientation.
But several Democrats denounced the new rules.
“The Bush administration is waging a covert war on loyal federal employees who happen to be gay,” said California Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.
The administration rewrote a 1997 regulation that had said sexual orientation “may not be used as a basis” for denying clearances or determining whether individuals should be eligible to access classified information unless it could make them vulnerable to coercion or exploitation.
Updated language
President Bush’s updated language says security clearances cannot be denied “solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual.”
If sexual behavior is “strictly private, consensual and discreet,” that could lessen security concerns, according to the regulations that came as part of an update to clearance guidelines distributed in December.
Gay rights activists said the change could open the door to added attention on sexual
orientation — and discrimination.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the new language stems from a 1995 executive order aimed at preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. He insisted no language has been removed and that the new rules are similar to the old ones.
“There’s no change in our policy,” McClellan said. “I think that they updated the language to reflect exactly what was spelled out in the executive order.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s Republican staff director, Bill Duhnke, said the Clinton and Bush regulations have the same effect, although they approach the issue in slightly different ways. “It’s a controversy without substance,” he said.
Blackmail concerns
Neither allows someone’s sexual orientation to be used by itself, Duhnke said, but in both cases some other behavior must give the government pause. If someone were trying to hide the fact that they are gay, for instance, he or she could be susceptible to coercion or blackmail.
Security clearances “are a privilege, not a right. They are granted on the discretion of the executive branch,” Duhnke said.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., both requested briefings on the issue, their aides said.
Other lawmakers were critical.
Waxman and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the revisions come as the administration has refused to enforce a policy that protects federal employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The administration has rejected the allegations.
Frank: A step backward
Frank, who is gay, said the administration is taking a step backward by changing the Clinton-era protections on security clearances. Frank said it is too soon to know the impact.
“Of course, sexual misbehavior could be grounds for denying a security clearance,” he said. “But that’s irrelevant as to whether the misbehavior is gay or straight, unless you think that sexual behavior by gay people is inherently misbehavior.”
A second openly gay lawmaker, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., urged the White House to rescind the guidelines. “Sexual orientation has no relevance to a person’s reliability, trustworthiness or ability to protect classified information,” she said.
Several million civilian and military personnel have security clearances that require lengthy background checks. Investigators look at whether applicants have shown signs, including drug use, criminal activity and sexual behavior, that they could be a security risk.
Steve Ralls, spokesman for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said his organization is going to watch closely to be sure the White House follows through on its assurances about the new rules.
“We want to be sure sexual orientation is not used as a road block for security clearance approval,” said Ralls, whose group advises gay military personnel on how to answer questions during the background checks.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858332/
and
Homeland official charged in online sex sting
Agency's deputy press secretary arrested for soliciting a child on Internet
Updated: 10:13 a.m. ET April 5, 2006
MIAMI - A deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was charged with using a computer to seduce a child after authorities said he struck up sexual conversations with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Brian J. Doyle, 55, the fourth-ranking official in the department’s public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday.
“He said last night that he was going to waive extradition. If he does that, we may have him back by the end of the week,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. “He could get to court today and some lawyer may say ’no, you don’t want to do that.’ The bottom line is we don’t know when he’s coming back.”
Authorities arrested Doyle on Tuesday at his Silver Spring, Md., home as he was online with the “girl.” The undercover detective had called Doyle at work and said she got a Web camera, as he had asked her to do, and wanted to test it out, said Carrie Rodgers, Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
“He said he would get on the computer when he got home from work so we knew he would be on,” Rodgers said. “When (police) went to his door, he was on the computer in the middle of a conversation with the girl.”
Sexually explicit conversations, movie clips
Doyle found the teenager’s profile online and began having sexually explicit conversations with her on the Internet on March 14, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
He sent her pornographic movie clips, as well as non-sexual photos of himself, officials said. One of the photos, released by the sheriff’s office, shows Doyle in what appears to be DHS headquarters. He is wearing a Homeland Security pin on his lapel and a lanyard that says “TSA.”
The Transportation Security Administration is part of the Homeland Security Department.
During online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, who he worked for and offered his office and government-issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff’s office said.
On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.
He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center. Doyle also faces a charge of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle’s government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.
Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation.
“We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with this ongoing investigation,” Knocke said.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12165485/
funny story about this post, i thought it had disappeared in a puff of smoke after i first composed it. i was not going to re-do it. that was way earlier this week. now, i opened up lj to say i did go to barnard, but i was going to defer a few more days in updating so as to actually have my notes and computer in the same place. so i'm saying that now, after the rest of this post.
