Witching Hour at the DoD

Date: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 5:59 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1581 -- 10/31/2006 >>>>>

The deadline for making comment to the Department of Defense proposal for
relaxing security requirements for foreign workers is coming soon. I hope
there are a few more ghosts and goblins who are lurking in the shadows with
commentary because the deadline is November 2.

Universities are the main group who seems to be pushing for relaxing
security standards. They submitted a flurry of comments the last two weeks.

Universities and their sub-contractors hope that by gutting security they
can hire more researchers on visas such as H-1B and TN. You can bet they
will also assign research to foreign students that work for free!

The most conspicuous absence on the website is a single comment from an
organization that purports to represent American workers. Ditto for
immigration reform groups. Weird, huh?

Why is there such a lack of concern about mass immigrations of foreign
spies and saboteurs into our research labs? If you are one of the few
Americans that think this is an important issue, you have until November 2
to tell the DoD why.

I have some new information below, so be sure to read it. It's not all
repeat!

***** PROCEDURE FOR VIEWING COMMENTS *****

The procedure for viewing documents has changed once again. Fortunately
it's simpler than the 9 steps I listed last time. They change this website
faster than I can send newsletters!

Follow these directions verbatim.

1) Go to this page:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main

2) Enter "2004-D010" without quotes in the search engine. Leave all other
settings at default.

3) Click the submit button.

4) In the Docket ID column click DARS-2006-0065.

5) You will see comments listed under the column labeled "Views". Just
click on them to read.

***** PROCEDURE FOR POSTING COMMENTS *****

<> The easiest way to post comments is to send an email to dfars@osd.mil.
You must put "Case 2004-D010" in the subject heading without the quotes.
You can also put other stuff in the subject heading if you want to add
more.

<> Please do not CC me on your email posting because the CC will show
online. If you want to send me a copy, forward the email instead of using
CC. It's probably bad form to have the CC posted.

<> If you send your email in HTML format instead of plain text they will
automatically generate a PDF file, which looks far better than just plain
text.

<> They will also post attachments in PDF or Word format. I don't recommend
Word format because many people can't view MS documents.

Alternate posting methods

* Repeat steps 1-4 above, or click the back button on your browser.

* Click the "add comments" icon. They have several other alternatives
including an online form. Some people have reported that the online form is
buggy, so be sure to have a separate copy of your writings in case it
crashes.

<<< My two-bits worth of advice >>>

Take this excercise very seriously, because the DoD may make a published
document out of all this material. This is a great opportunity to go on the
record with your views! Read this privacy statement from the webpage:

Any information (e.g., personal or contact) you provide on this

comment

form or in an attachment may be publicly disclosed and searchable on

the

Internet and in a paper docket and will be provided to the Department

Agency issuing the notice.

As expected, the universities have wasted no time posting comments. Most of
their comments reference the following document on the Association of
American Universities website (AAU).

http://www.aau.edu/research/Ltr_AAU_DFARS_10-13-06.pdf

Universities and big business are pushing these changes in order to exploit
cheap foreign labor and to cut costs by gutting security requirements.
However true, be frugal about emphasizing the cheap labor argument because
the DoD might think it's a good idea if money can be saved. Perhaps a
better line of argument would be to explain why replacing Americans is bad
for security and how it harms our technology infrastructure.

Consider it fair game to copy other people's comments. The universities are
doing it. In the DFARS document they logged the number of comments for or
against a certain provision, so in some respects the quantity of comments
is just as important as the content.

It wouldn't hurt if you spent some time reading my previous newsletters on
the DoD as well as some of the comments already submitted at the website.

For further reading, and more background on this issue, read my commentary.
It is document DARS-2006-0065-0012.

I also wrote this essay on Vdare. Be sure to follow up on their links.

http://www.vdare.com/sanchez/06105_dod.htm

I wrote a shorter version that was targeted for newspaper op-eds. It was
picked up by a syndicated editorial company and then the op-ed was sent out
to hundreds of newspapers, but unfortunately it hasn't been published.
These types of stories are a very tough sell in the mainstream media.

You can read that op-ed column here:

http://www.cap-s.org/newsroom/opinion_releases/sanchez_dod.html

If any of you are in the media and want to publish the column in your
newspaper, please contact CAP-S.org at:

http://www.cap-s.org/contact_us/address_and_phone.html

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