Police search for shooter on grounds of Washington Navy Yard

[cptmarginal]

Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter

USIS, the Falls Church government contractor that handled the background check for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday that it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his ­secret-level clearance in 2007.

The company, which is under criminal investigation over whether it misled the government about the thoroughness of its background checks, said earlier this week that it had not handled Alexis’s case.

USIS spokesman Ray Howell said the company got new information Thursday.

“Today we were informed that in 2007, USIS conducted a background check of Aaron Alexis” for the Office of Personnel Management, Howell said in a statement. “We are contractually prohibited from retaining case information gathered as part of the background checks we conduct for OPM and therefore are unable to comment further on the nature or scope of this or any other background check.”

U.S. agency urged to yank vetting firm contract - Sep 5, 2014

(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers have urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to withdraw a $190 million border security contract awarded to a company which checks government employees' backgrounds and suffered a cyber attack disclosed last month.

Five Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives said this week it was "unconscionable and indefensible" of DHS to award the contract to U.S. Investigations Services (USIS). The company is facing fraud charges from the U.S. Justice Department for "dumping" 665,000 background check cases without conducting proper reviews.

"Considering their past record and these worrisome allegations, we believe the stakes are too high to allow USIS to be put in charge of one of our most important border security programs," the lawmakers said told DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Representative Matt Salmon, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, and four other lawmakers urged Johnson in a letter dated Sept. 2 to withdraw the contract until the issues were resolved.

Several senators have also questioned the government's decision to award another contract to USIS despite the charges.

No immediate comment was available from DHS.

USIS, which carried out the background checks on former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, has faced growing scrutiny in recent years.

Last month, U.S. government officials said a major data breach at the Falls Church, Virginia-based company compromised data of at least 25,000 workers, including some undercover investigators, and that number could rise.

The USIS breach exposed highly personal information of workers at DHS headquarters as well as its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection units.

FCi Federal Inc, a smaller vetting firm, has filed a protest against the contract awarded to USIS in July by DHS's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The protesting company argued that the fraud charges filed against USIS should have disqualified it from the work.

"No rational person, having discovered that a plumber duped a neighbor into paying full price by lying about completing 40 percent of the work, would hire that same plumber because the plumber claimed he did a 'quality job' for the neighbor," FCi Federal said in a supplemental protest filed last month with the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

USIS, a division of Altegrity Inc, which is majority owned by Providence Equity Partners, had no comment on the letter.

The USIS unit that was awarded the latest contract is separate from the unit that performs the background checks at issue in the Justice Department investigation. U.S. officials have said the probe does not involve the company's handling of background checks on Snowden or Alexis.

One congressional aide said USIS had "cleaned house" after the initial problems were cited, but the recent cyber breach had fueled further troubling concerns about the company.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Richard Chang and Lisa Shumaker)

[cptmarginal]

Bumping this up from the bottom of the last page:

Federal, D.C. officers cleared in fatal shooting of Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis

Confusion marred police response to Navy Yard shooting, report finds

Navy Yard shooting: D.C. police after-action report

[8bitagent]

I'm a little drunk, but did I just see "Falls Church Virginia" mentioned on this last page? (home of witnesses swearing up and down they saw the 9/11 hijackers at houses who had regular rich Saudi limo visitors)

Wasnt the Navy shooter dude the guy who had an Elf weapon, to fight off elves? errr never mind

[cptmarginal]

Yeah, and:

There were other ways that Carlyle was capitalizing on both the airplane attacks and the anthrax letters: security. Deep inthe belly of a mountain in Boyers, Pennsylvania, exists an under-ground facility carved into rock that holds one of Carlyle's most important investments, U.S. Investigations Services. USIS, as it is known, is a classic example of privatization, and a classic Carlyle investment. Once known as the U.S. Civil Service Commission, then the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and finally the Office of Federal Investigations (OFI), the organization was a staple of the U.S. government's ability to gather information on any individual applying for a job with the government. Its charter, as it had been from the beginning, was to investigate the backgrounds of government employees, and pro-vide them with varying levels of national security clearance. USIS's cave-like work environment is something that only James Bond could love. Rock walls, tight security, no open-toed shoes, and no open flames—employees have steamed lunches brought into the facility every day. The former mine is also home to the personnel files of thousands of government officials. It is top secret stuff.

The company's history, like most of the companies in Carlyle Partners II, is highly controversial. Since going private in 1996, USIS has been incredibly successful. But getting private wasn't so easy. Employees of the government-run Office of Federal Investigations fought the privatization the whole way, fearing layoffs and salary cuts. They hired lawyers, testified at congres-sional hearings, and protested the decision to take it private, which was made by the Clinton administration. To quiet them down, the government offered the investigators an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and promised them the same or better salaries in the newly formed private enterprise. After years of acrimonious battles, the Office of Federal Investiga-tions became USIS in July 1996. Employees retired from OFI and started work the next day at USIS.

As life under the ESOP went on, some employees felt they had been duped. One former USIS employee says that USIS executives harassed older investigators, encouraging them to leave the company so they could hire younger employees, who wouldn't vest in the stock plan for five years. That left more of the equity pie to the high-level executives, should the company ever go public or sell itself. Before USIS had gone private though, the only investigators allowed to work on national security investigations had to have five years experience. That meant that the company would have to rely on less experienced investigators for some of the most important jobs in the country. Many of the older investigators then left in disgust. The result was a watering down of the talent at USIS, and many blamed Carlyle for the changes.

The company was growing profits and acquiring smaller firms by the turn of the century. But nothing would compare to the explosion of business after September 11. "Since 9/11, USIS's acquisition of contracts has exploded," said one employee that declined to be identified. "All the new FAA, Department of Transportation, Transportation Security Administration, INS, Customs, ... all of those employees being hired are being investigated by USIS. They also have contracts with all the major airlines, and the contract companies who provide airport security. I do not exaggerate whenI say that Carlyle is taking over the world in government contract work, particularly defense work. Carlyle is a one-world shadow government."

USIS is just one more example of how Carlyle was in a frighteningly good position to reap the benefits of September 11. There are more examples, like EG&G, a company Carlyle bought in the summer of 1999, which makes, among other things, the X-ray scanners that are used in airports. Whether the company is a "shadow government," is for conspiracy theorists to debate. But the company's uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time sure doesn't help to dissuade the cynics.

USIS is now owned by Providence Equity Partners.

See also:

http://www.economist.com/node/1875084

(not to imply that you don't know all about the Carlyle-Saudi partnership already)

ON the day Osama bin Laden's men attacked America, Shafiq bin Laden, described as an estranged brother of the terrorist, was at an investment conference in Washington, DC, along with two people who are close to President George Bush: his father, the first President Bush, and James Baker, the former secretary of state who masterminded the legal campaign that secured Dubya's move to the White House. The conference was hosted by the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that manages billions of dollars, including, at the time, some bin Laden family wealth. It also employs Messrs Bush and Baker.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, when no one was being allowed in or out of the United States, many members of the bin Laden family in America were spirited home to Saudi Arabia. The revival of defence spending that followed greatly increased the value of the Carlyle Group's investments in defence companies.

The Carlyle Group is a godsend for conspiracy theorists who are convinced that the world is run by, and on behalf of, a shadowy network of wealthy men.

Funny idea of what might constitute a "godsend" though.

[elfismiles]

duplicate deleted

[elfismiles]

"It is happening again..."

LIVE STREAMING HAPPENING NOW: Just heard them say reports of multiple shooters.

No confirmations of shooters or shooting or injuries...

Navy Yard on lockdown after report of shooting
8:19 a.m. EDT July 2, 2015

8:16 a.m.: Media relocated further from scene as law enforcement suit up to go in to sweep building. WUSA9's Delia Goncalves describes scene as "pretty chaotic."

UPDATE: 8:14 a.m.: More road closures expected.

UPDATE 8:10 a.m.: Navy says incident has not been confirmed. Confirms campus is on lockdown.

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- U.S. Park Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers are responding to Navy Yard where buildings are on lockdown and roads are closed. There are no casualties at this time.

Police cars were seen with sirens on rushing to the scene.

An employee inside Navy Yard reports that alarms are sounding and the buildings are on lock-down.


South Capitol St SE from M to I St SE and 11 St SE from M St to Virginia Ave SE are closed at this time.

We are waiting for more details.


Watch WUSA Live Video WUSA9

Watch our live report here soon.

A gunman shot 12 people at Navy Yard in September 2013.


MORE NAVY YARD STORIES:

Navy Yard building reopens after shooting

DC police officer honored for bravery during Navy Yard shooting

http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/2015/07 ... /29607377/

[stefano]

If it's a black dude I'll be very suspicious. More than usual, I mean.

[elfismiles]

"Everyone is accounted for, no injuries, reports of two shooters, no one heard anything, no one saw anything, people being allowed back in."

EDIT: So confusing ... "still on lockdown" but they are acting like they are de-escalating the situation. False alarm? Car backfiring or some other loud noise caused all this maybe?

[elfismiles]

Yep, they are saying someone was scared by a loud noise.

[elfismiles]

There is another nearby building that cops have been reportedly rushing to ...

EDIT: Talk of surveillance footage showing two men jumping fence near where original reports of shots-fired emerged... ?

[Luther Blissett]

8 comments to Navy Yard shooting: media dump shocking story line


Luther Blissett says:
September 27, 2013 at 1:05 am

Seems like there’s many “journalists” today who are essentially doing the work Winston Smith did at the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984. Re-write documented history when it no longer fits the current reality, then drop the old versions down the memory hole.

*

Is that our Luther Blissett?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not one for the comments section, but it's possible. Three things are making me ever-so-slightly paranoid right now: the content of this thread, that my phone gave me an alert that people were posting on twitter about the #NavyYard right as I was catching up on this thread from page 4, and the show "Mr. Robot" (a great counterespionage hacker thriller, highly recommended, very RI).

[Nordic]

"loud noises" right before the 4th of July. Hmmmmm ...

We've had a bunch of those in my neighborhood the last couple of days too ...,

[elfismiles]

Here we go again ...

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
http://www.legitgov.org/Shooting-Bradle ... a-incident

Breaking: Shootings reported at Navy Reserve center and military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee | 16 July 2015 | [Update, 1:28 p.m. ET] The "active shooter situation" in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is over, police tweeted around 1:15 p.m. ET Thursday. [1:24 p.m. ET] Shootings were reported at a Navy Reserve center and a military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, late Thursday morning. One officer is "down" in connection with the shootings, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke told reporters. The U.S. Navy tweeted Thursday that a shooting happened at a Navy Reserve center on Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga. But a witness said she saw a shooting at a different location -- a building that houses military recruiting offices. Gina Mule, a server at a restaurant, said she saw a man who'd been in a silver convertible Mustang, firing a "high-powered rifle" at the recruiting offices.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/us/tennes ... index.html

'String of Shootings' Reported Across East Tennessee, Including Army Recruiting Center in Chattanooga --Shootings at Chattanooga army recruiting center, Bradley Square Mall, officer 'down' --'Horrific shooting' at Tennessee Riverpark in Chattanooga, police officer 'down' | 16 July 2015 | A string of shootings is being reported across East Tennessee today. A police officer has been shot at 6219 Lee Hwy. in Chattanooga. The shooting is at an army recruiting center. The officer was transported to Erlanger hospital. A search is underway in the surrounding area. The local SWAT and five ambulances are responding at this time. Amnicola Highway is shut down at this time. Chattanooga State Community College is on lockdown. Six ambulances have arrived at the Erlanger emergency room. A statement is expected shortly. The Erlanger emergency department is on lockdown as well.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/loca ... ga/314944/

At least two Marines, police officer shot in Tennessee | 16 July 2015 | Sources now tell CBS News that at least two U.S. Marines and a police officer were shot near Lee Highway in Chattanooga Thursday morning, at a military recruiting center. Multiple law enforcement sources say the shooter is deceased. [?! There are two separate scenes, five miles apart - the 'one' shooter was killed in between the shootings?] The wounded officer was transported to a nearby hospital...Police have set up a command post near the site. Much of the surrounding area was placed on lockdown, including Chattanooga State Community College.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-poli ... ng-center/

[82_28]

Once again, just to preach to the choir and I'm sure some here responsibly use them, but all guns need to be melted down. All war needs to cease. It really sucks being an idealist.