Researcher loses job at NSF after government questions her role as 1980s activist

[KamaAina]

http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2014/09/researcher-loses-job-nsf-after-government-questions-her-role-1980s-activist

Valerie Barr was 22 and living in New York City in 1979 when she became politically active. A recent graduate of New York University with a master’s degree in computer science, Barr handed out leaflets, stood behind tables at rallies, and baked cookies to support two left-wing groups, the Women’s Committee Against Genocide and the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence. Despite her passion for those issues, she had a full-time job as a software developer—with 50-plus-hour workweeks and frequent visits to clients around the country—that took precedence.

After a few years, she found herself devoting even less time to those causes. By the late 1980s, she had resumed her pursuit of an academic career. A quarter-century later, she’s a tenured professor of computer science at Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a national reputation for her work improving computing education and attracting more women and minorities into the field.

That social conscience also led her to decide it was time to “give something back to the community.” So in August 2013 she took a leave from Union College to join the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a program director in its Division of Undergraduate Education. And that’s when her 3-decade-old foray into political activism came back to haunt her....

Colleagues who decry Barr’s fate worry that the incident could make other scientists think twice about coming to work for NSF. In addition, Barr’s case offers a rare glimpse into the practices of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), an obscure agency within the White House that wields vast power over the entire federal bureaucracy through its authority to vet recently hired workers.

[elehhhhna]

1. the OPM is outsourced to a co. owned by the Carlyle group

Fyi

[KamaAina]

4. Say WHAT?!

[elehhhhna]

6. yep. iirc since clinton was pres.

Link after I get home.

[KamaAina]

8. But not after this month

From Wiki: (DU software eats the parens in the link )

OPM drops USIS

On September 9, 2014, the OPM confirmed it would not renew any of its contracts with USIS upon their expiration at month's end. USIS said it was "deeply disappointed with OPM's decision," which affects 3,000 employees handling a caseload that averaged about 21,000 background checks a month for total fees of $320 million during the last fiscal year.

Maybe this woman can get her job back next month.

[elehhhhna]

10. That cancelled contract was bc/ of Snowden

I actually have an old gradeschool friend who has been with the NSA (develops methods to secure and prevent the hacking of tactile systems ) for 30 years. I think they may be (he didn't say this, but I THINK) reconsidering their relationships with contacting personnel companies.

He was the smartest kid in our town. He's still quirky and funny as hell. He can't talk a lot about his job but the things he CAN say are fascinating. Made me rethink some back/white ideas, actually. There is at least one person at the NSA who is working hard to prevent random disasterous outcomes and he has no guile or selfish/shady motives and he really, really loves his country. They sacrifice a lot in their lives for this type of work.


Also, the contracting company that actually employed Snowden is owned by...guess who?" Carlyle.

Creepy side note: CLinton started this outsourcing shit. Remember - he tasked Al Gore with "streamjlining" the government, and Gore did the studies and got the ball rolling. Towards hell.

[elehhhhna]

11. Does USIS have a foreign subsidiary named ISIS?

When you're evil, hey! In for a penny, in for a pound.

[KamaAina]

12. DUzy!

Not as farfetched as it sounds.

[n2doc]

2. Seems like something we would have expected during the Bush or Reagan Years

I guess it is now intrenched.

[kath]

5. Is it fascism yet??

[gratuitous]

7. Let that be a lesson to the rest of you

If you engage in activism against genocide, there will be no place in our government for you. No job. No contract. Your work, your expertise, your passion, your whatever, are not wanted by our government, its agencies or any of its functionaries.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. This is what happens when you don't allow yourself to be another brick in the wall.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

13. This absolutely sucks

But to be clear, a) the OPM is not an "obscure agency within the White House", it's basically the HR agency for the federal civilian workforce, b) it is not outsourced ( I know this isn't in the OP, but in one of the replies).

Although OPM did outsource background investigations for security clearances, that's just a piece of what OPM does.