Link to the original news post
In regards to semi-recent controversy about the Notcom Private Investigative Agency (NCIA) conducting “covert operations” into terrorist organizations in the name of the Department of Justice (DoJ) as a government contractor, some measures have been taken by both the Senate and President.
In particular, the point of contention for many people opposed to government contracting was that shifting the responsibility for national security matters away from the government to private companies was irresponsible, and wholly unnecessary, especially when taking into context how previous contracts with for example the NCIA forbade the government from any oversight into the internal workings of the contractor, leaving the process behind how any evidence was actually obtained to be a complete blackbox in the eyes of the government, which then in-turn might lead to false evidence being referred to the DoJ. This theory was partially confirmed by a report from the Independent Ombudsman into (among other things) how the NCIA gathered its evidence, although this report also was highly controversial.
The Senate’s response to this came on the 30th of June via the “Contractor Agency Act” authored by Mypen (@mypenjustbroke), which imposed some regulations on government contractors, namely them now being held to the same accountability standards as actual government agencies, and thus also being able to be held liable for crimes such as Discrimination and Abuse of Discretion.
Furthermore, the Act bans any contracts that would prevent the DoJ from subpoenaing information, case records, findings, etc. from contractors, ensuring that the DoJ always knows what’s going on internally at a government contractor.
Newly elected President Birdish’s response was much more straightforward: He signed a 2-sentence-long Executive Order completely forbidding government contracting within the field of national security, like he promised in his candidacy statement.
The President has said the following to justify the Executive Order:
“ts pmo icl - To put it simply, the Government having external organisations handle the security and safety of its system is wholly irresponsible and unneccessary[sic]. We already haave[sic] our own organisations for this kind of stuff. I especially dislike how previous contracts have heavily favoured the contractor and allowed for 0[sic] government oversight on contractors, which led to the mishaps shown in the SDIOA report (not the doxxing stuff, the nf19 evidence potentially being fake and stuff).”
“Government contracting was, at first, looked at as a good alternative for workforce attainment. For instance, the DoJ hired the AHA in order to procure more State Attorneys in a time of need. However, these contracts, when used for a national security purpose, deletes accountability from government intelligence gathering by using a grey-area operator to procure such information. I believe that accountability, if nothing else, should be paramount in our gathering and usage of sensitive information, and sadly contracting does not provide that basis. That is why I wrote the Contractor Agency Act - to provide as much accountability as possible without killing the contracting industry. Additionally, that is why I am very pleased with President Birdish's recent Executive Order outlawing contracting for national security and investigative matters.”