Of interest to many here, I am sure. Tim: hide your eyes... -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org "Every living thing dies alone." Donnie Darko ------- FORWARDED MESSAGE ------------------- I don't know how many people have seen this already... Interesting new data released Monday by Syracuse University on the Dept. of Homeland Security. It includes employees by county for the entire country: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/tracdhs/030825/county_full.html which, curiously, shows Boulder with zero full-time DHS employees but San Miguel (Telluride) with 7! It also includes this, from http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/tracdhs/aboutdata030825.html "TRACs direct experiences with the DHS in connection with the FOIA law thus far have not been encouraging. Most of our FOIA requests to the department, for example, have yet to be acted upon although -- given the short time that has elapsed since our initial requests -- this may not be entirely surprising. More disturbing is the fact that many of public records that the Freedom of Information Act requires be posted on the agencys web site are not yet available. "But there have been a number of additional specific incidents that heighten our concern. In an attempt to telephone the departments public affairs office in June, for example, TRAC was twice informed that the direct-dial number of this office was not a matter of public record. On a second occasion, after a FOIA officer in one of DHS sub-agencies promised to fax TRAC a list identifying documents that the FOIA specifically mandates be made public, the promise was withdrawn. Then another DHS sub-agency informed TRAC it would not act on our FOIA request -- an outcome flowing from its failure to classify Syracuse University as qualifying as an educational ...institution whose purpose is scholarly or scientific research. On yet another occasion, a TRAC request for more timely information to update material posted some months before on a sub-agencys public web site was summarily refused." They also track FBI and other govt ops... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 13:30:43 -0400 (EDT) From: TRAC <trac@MailBox.syr.edu> Subject: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) TRAC's first special report on the DHS is now available. This report provides comprehensive information about the staff of an agency which now employs one out of every twelve full-time federal workers: where they work, what they are paid, what they do and the agencies within the department that employ them. Analysis, maps, tables and graphs are available. Also presented are data documenting staff changes between 9/11 and March 31, 2003. For more information go to: http://trac.syr.edu/media David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Syracuse University 488 Newhouse II Syracuse, NY 13244-2100 315-443-3563 trac@syr.edu http://trac.syr.edu