Obama to Nominate Jeh Johnson, Former Pentagon Official, as Next DHS Secretary

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Photo Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffPresident Obama will nominate Jeh Johnson, formerly the Pentagon’s top lawyer and a key figure in the administration’s debate over the legality of drone use, to head the Department of Homeland Security, according to White House officials.

The official announcement will take place Friday at the White House. Johnson, if confirmed by the Senate, would succeed Janet Napolitano, who announced she was leaving the Cabinet post in July.

As the former Defense Department general counsel, Johnson was responsible for the legal work at the nation’s largest bureaucracy. His job placed him at the center of some of Obama’s most important national security decisions, from the practice of targeted killings beyond America’s defined battlefields to the intervention in Libya.

“The president is selecting Johnson because he is one the most highly qualified and respected national security leaders,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nomination before its announcement. “During his tenure at the Department of Defense, he was known for his sound judgment and counsel.”

The official added that Johnson was “responsible for the prior legal review and approval of every military operation approved by the president and secretary of defense” during Obama’s first term.

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Obamacare Troubleshooters Faint from Exhaustion

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Photo Credit: WNDPresident Obama and the Democrats may have won the fight to keep Obamacare funding intact, but the president’s signature health-care takeover is self-destructing as even Healthcare.gov contractors say they are falling ill and “fainting in conference calls” because they can’t keep up with demand to fix the program’s glitches.

News of Obamacare’s imploding launch went from bad to worse Thursday:

Soaring cost: The cost of the Healthcare.gov online insurance website soared from $93.7 million to $292 million since April as the Obama administration began pouring money into the project following concerns it was in trouble. According to Reuters, “Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the lead Obamacare agency, said at an insurance-industry meeting that he was ‘pretty nervous’ about the exchanges being ready by October 1, adding, ‘let’s just make sure it’s not a Third-World experience.’” Now the House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating the technical problems and contractors who received hundreds of millions of dollars to create it.

Copyright violation: The Obamacare website has reportedly violated licensing agreements for copyrighted software. The website failed to comply with the user agreement when it removed copyright notices from the software. The company says it will pursue action against the Department of Health and Human Services.

Minimal testing: The site wasn’t even tested until less than a week before its launch. A person with direct knowledge of the procedures told the Washington Examiner, “Normally a system this size would need 4-6 months of testing and performance tuning, not 4-6 days.”

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Senate Deal Weakens Congress On Debt Ceiling (+video)

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Capitol Hill talk regarding the Senate deal apparently includes a provision that would take away the Congress’ power to increase the debt ceiling. According to Politico, it looks like the buzz appears to be true.:

The plan includes a proposal offered by McConnell in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that allows Congress to disapprove of the debt ceiling increase, which means lawmakers will formally vote on whether to reject a debt ceiling increase until Feb. 7. Obama can veto that legislation if it passes. If Congress fails as expected to gather a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the debt ceiling would be raised.
National Journal reported last week:

Whether it’s four weeks from now or in one year, there’d be even less reason to put faith in a last-minute deal next time the U.S. is up against the debt limit.

There’s only one foolproof way to avoid a future crisis: Fundamentally change the way the debt ceiling works.

This approach isn’t all that radical. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., proposed a reform in January that would change the debt-ceiling mechanism so that Congress would vote to disapprove of an increase, as opposed to approving one. Such a change would limit debt-ceiling negotiations to a veto-proof majority, while still leaving Congress with some power.

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Privacy Threat Found in ObamaCare Website

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsTo enroll in a new ObamaCare health insurance plan on the federal marketplace, most consumers must first provide private personal information.

But buried in that website’s blueprint (known as “source code”) lies an alarming warning first unearthed by the Weekly Standard.

“You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system,” reads the disclaimer, which does not appear on the site’s visible “Terms and Conditions” page.

The disclaimer continues: “At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, intercept, and search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system.”

Now security experts are worried this paragraph beneath the surface at HealthCare.gov may represent an ominous sign — that the U.S. government is ill-equipped to handle identity thieves.

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U.S. House Passes Bill to Reopen Government, Increase Debt Limit

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By REUTERS.

The U.S. House of Representatives late on Wednesday passed legislation to avoid a damaging default on government debt and to reopen federal agencies shuttered when funding ran out on October 1.

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Photo Credit: Doug Mills/The New York TimesCongress Passes Debt Deal

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and ASHLEY PARKER.

Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law, agreeing to end a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and extend federal borrowing power to avert a financial default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions.

With the Treasury Department warning that it could run out of money to pay national obligations within a day, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, 81 to 18, to approve a proposal hammered out by the chamber’s Republican and Democratic leaders after the House on Tuesday was unable to move forward with any resolution. The House followed suit a few hours later, voting 285 to 144, to approve the Senate plan, which would finance the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7.

Shortly after the Senate vote, President Obama said he would sign the measure as he soon as he received it. While he praised Congress, he said he hoped the damaging standoff would not be repeated.

“We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis,” said Mr. Obama, who urged Congress to move forward, not only with new budget negotiations, but immigration changes and a farm bill as well. “We could get all these things done even this year, if everybody comes together in a spirit of, how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us.”

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DoD Refuses to Say If It Would Stop Priest from Giving Last Rites to Dying Serviceman—‘We Are Currently Litigating’ Matter

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Photo Credit: AP/Carolyn KasterLt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman in the Office of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, is refusing to say whether the Department of Defense would attempt to stop a civilian Catholic priest, who had been a contract chaplain for the military, from administering the last rites to a serviceman on a U.S. military base.

“I feel no particular compulsion to answer outlandish, hypothetical questions in a yes/no fashion nor does the Department, generally, answer hypotheticals at all,” Breasseale said in an email.

“Further, it is a matter of long standing Department policy to not address matters that are currently under active litigation,” Breasseale continued.

Prior to Breasseale sending this email declining to say whether DOD would try to stop a priest from administering the last rites to a serviceman, a spokesman for the National Security Staff at the White House, had responded to the question, by saying: “We’d refer you to our colleagues at DOD for comment.”

“I’m sorry that the NSS sent you to us, but I suspect they might not have known that we are currently litigating,” said Breasseale. “The Department of Justice handles the litigation for all agencies of the Executive, so my recommendation is that you contact them.”

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Goldberg: ‘It’s Never Wise to Underestimate the Degree to Which Obama Does Things for Spite’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg said it is never wise to underestimate the degree to which President Obama launches partisan attacks out of spite for the GOP Wesdnesday on Special Report.

Goldberg said he believes often President Obama cannot “help himself”…

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150 Straight Days: Treasury Says Debt Stood Still at $16,699,396,000,000

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Photo Credit: AP/Susan WalshEvery business day since May 17, the U.S. Treasury has published a daily statement claiming that the federal debt subject to the limit set by Congress closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000—about $25 million below the legal limit.

Monday, the Columbus Day holiday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released today, marked the 150th straight day that the Treasury has said the debt subject to limit was stuck at $16,699,396,000,000.

On May 17, the first day the debt closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner stating that since the Treasury was about to hit the debt limit he would begin to use “extraordinary measures” to prevent it from doing so. These included, among other things, suspending investment of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund in U.S. Treasury securities, and redeeming securities already held by this fund.

“In total, the extraordinary measures currently available free up approximately $260 billion in headroom under the limit,” Lew wrote then.

But in that letter, Lew described the unpredictability of the Treasury’s flow of funds to explain why he could not predict exactly when the extraordinary measures would be exhausted.

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Complaint: UAW, VW Coerced Workers Into Accepting Unionization

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Photo Credit: APTennessee autoworkers have filed a second set of complaints alleging that Volkswagen’s corporate headquarters pressured employees to join the United Auto Workers Union.

Four autoworkers filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board alleging that members of the German-based company’s board of directors threatened to end plant expansion in the right-to-work state if employees did not join a European-style works council.

The support that corporate leaders are lending to the UAW amounts to coercion, according to the complaint filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW).

“Bernd Osterloh, vice-chairman of VW and head of VW’s global works council, who makes production decisions for VW, said publicly that employees in Chattanooga must form a works council and bring in the UAW as their agent if their plant is going to be given the opportunity to produce additional products for VW,” the complaint states.

“Volkswagen AG through their officers, directors, and/or agents are thus interfering with Chattanooga facility employees’ rights to choose whether or not to engage in self-organization to form, join, or assist labor organizations.”

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Feds $82,800 Study On How to Use Twitter For ‘Depression Surveillance’

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Photo Credit: APThe federal government is studying how to use Twitter for surveillance on depressed people.

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) began a study financed by the National Institutes of Health last month that will provide “population level depression monitoring” through the social media site.

The project, “Utilizing Social Media as a Resource for Mental Health Surveillance,” is costing taxpayers $82,800.

While Twitter has been used by government agencies, such as the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, for national security related monitoring, the project suggests the social network can be used for public health surveillance as well.

“Major depressive disorder is one of the most common debilitating illnesses in the United States, with a lifetime prevalence of 16.2 [percent],” the project grant states. “Currently, nationwide mental health surveillance takes the form of large-scale telephone- based surveys.”

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