ITAA Wins battle with DOD

Date: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 11:27 AM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

On 5/12/2002 I reported that The American Federation of Government
Employees
(AFGE)wanted to require American citizenship for anybody that is
involved
with defense department work. Harris Miller of the ITAA has opposed the
union because he wants H-1Bs to take these jobs. It appears that Miller
has
won this battle.

I wrote a letter to AFGE but they wouldn't respond. I guess they are
angry
at losing this battle but I don't think keeping their defeat secret will
help them. The public needs to know what's going on.

http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18799-1.html

05/29/02

DOD adjusts its plans on hiring foreign workers

By Dawn S. Onley
GCN Staff

The Defense Department has rethought plans to disqualify foreign
nationals
from jobs that include handling unclassified but sensitive IT.

If would-be workers pass background investigations and get letters of
approval from the agency chiefs seeking to employ them, the department
will
allow the hires to proceed, senior DOD managers said.

Defense agency chiefs are encouraged to hire U.S. citizens first for
sensitive IT positions, said Pete Nelson, DOD?s deputy director for
personnel security. Foreign nationals can still work on systems within
DOD
provided they are ?properly vetted for the material to which they have
access,? he said.

When DOD issued its no-foreigners proposal in March, some industry
officials
expressed concern that the rule would call for foreign employees to be
removed from positions in which they would handle sensitive but
unclassified
information. Such data includes personnel data and information on
weapons
systems.

?There is no per se rule to disqualify foreign nationals other than to
encourage use of U.S. citizens in [sensitive but unclassified]
positions,
but that is ultimately up to the system owner or agency head,? Nelson
said.

He said DOD would require U.S. citizens as well as foreign nationals to
pass
background investigations to gain access to secure data.

It is still unclear how many contractors would be affected by the
proposal.

DOD expects to issue a final policy by September.

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