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UID:pretalx-hope2020-RTAANZ@scheduler.hope.net
DTSTART;TZID=US/Eastern:20200727T100000
DTEND;TZID=US/Eastern:20200727T110000
DESCRIPTION:BioWatch is the nation's response to HSPD 10 (securing the nati
on from acts of bioterrorism) and HPSD 21 (public health and safety) manag
ed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It has been funded in exc
ess of $1 billion over the past ten years. It has a controversial past of
declaring false negatives and is the recipient of skepticism within Congre
ss and the public health community at large. Furthermore\, for a period of
years\, the BioWatch Program Office deliberately misled the DHS Office of
the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) as to the security posture of the sy
stem\, a system that also contained several critical and high vulnerabilit
ies that were not reported or addressed.
It is important to mention
that the BioWatch web portal was hosted on an .org domain. While being ho
sted on a .org domain\, DHS cannot monitor it. This was done by purposeful
design by the BioWatch Program Office\, which also deployed several subsy
stems in the BioWatch web portal without informing the DHS OCIO. One of th
ese was a program management application that managed the financials of th
e program\, which\, being on a .org domain inaccessible to the federal gov
ernment\, allowed the BioWatch Program Office to use any funds received by
Congress in any manner they so chose. There was no oversight to prevent t
he misappropriation of funds.
From 2012 to 2017\, there was spendin
g of over 400 million taxpayer dollars that remain unaccounted for. Other
studies indicate that this number could be over $1 billion. What is known
is the members of the BioWatch Program Office during this time used BioWat
ch program funding to attend numerous high-profile events\, such as the Su
per Bowl\, NBA playoffs\, the Rose Bowl\, and the Summer Olympics in Rio d
e Janeiro\, as well as multiple Las Vegas conventions.
During this
time\, BioWatch was the only nationwide early detection system that served
both a national security and public health mission. Its primary purpose w
as to detect pathogens and provide early detection of acts of bioterrorism
and/or pandemics (specifically\, pathogens related to anthrax and influen
za) to enable the rapid deployment of national resources to contain and mi
tigate the outbreak. This system was supposed to provide early warning\, d
etection\, and tracking of pandemic outbreaks\, such as COVID-19. The prog
ram and system were still operational at the time of the recent COVID-19 o
utbreak.
Hear more firsthand from the former information systems se
curity manager for DHS BioWatch and whistleblower regarding fraud\, waste\
, abuse\, gross mismanagement\, and mishandling of classified information
within the BioWatch program.
DTSTAMP:20200907T012834Z
LOCATION:Public Talk Stream
SUMMARY:DHS BioWatch: A Failure of Oversight and Accountability - Dr. Harry
Jackson
URL:http://scheduler.hope.net/hope2020/talk/RTAANZ/
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