Homeland Security creates counterintelligence division

WASHINGTON — Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo.

The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspying efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in private industry and in protecting government secrets.

The Homeland Security Department "is vulnerable to adversaries who seek information about our nation's homeland defense programs, classified or unclassified," Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in the Aug. 4 memo to employees.

The agency, formed in 2003 after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has about 216,000 employees and posts worldwide. It includes divisions that protect the country's borders, develop new radiation-detection equipment, study and test infectious diseases, enforce immigration and maritime laws, protect the president and other dignitaries, and work to keep terrorists off airplanes and other transportation.

Homeland Security is creating a counterintelligence system now, because there is no place for such a function in the department — which was formed by fusing 22 disparate agencies — said a senior U.S. government official who requested anonymity.

"We are still a relatively young department," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said, adding that the memo reflects the department's growing maturity during the past five years.

Counterintelligence is an organized effort to block an enemy's sources of information and access to sensitive material. It can also be used to give misinformation.

In his memo, Chertoff instructs that employees must tell a special security officer about any planned foreign travel. When the employee returns, the employee should report "any real or possible contacts with foreign intelligence services, terrorists or foreign criminal enterprises." This reporting, Chertoff says, will protect department employees who travel abroad.

While setting up a separate office dedicated to counterintelligence, the concept is not new to the department. In 2005, it published a brochure, "Espionage: How to Recognize and Report It," which includes a list of suspicious behaviors.

More job candidates will get Googled

One week after ousting disgraced Minnesota transportation official Sonia Pitt from the job she found at the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency has taken a new step to beef up its vetting of potential hires.

From now on, more job candidates will have their backgrounds searched on Google.

The policy change was put forth by Kip Hawley, top administrator of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The incident is raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of Homeland Security, which has been dogged by questions of competency.

Pitt, 44, had been fired in November from her executive-level emergency-response job at the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Among other things, she failed to return for 10 days from an unauthorized, state-paid trip to Washington during the aftermath of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.

The agency also said she misspent $26,400 in state funds and made 94 hours of personal calls from her state-paid cellphone to a Federal Highway Administration official with whom she had a relationship.

Officials are investigating why Pitt continued to hold a federal security clearance after her dismissal, whether her TSA application was truthful, and whether cronyism or corruption was involved in her hiring.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)