Where: Courtroom 11, United States District Court, 
312 North Spring Street, Los Angeles

When: Thursday, July 10 at 2 PM

Other News:

• NASA now posted the "suitability matrix" on its website, as Attachment 2, "Office of Personnel Management Issue Characterization Chart" in NASA Desk Guide for Suitability and Security Clearance Processing (local copy). It mentions "carnal knowledge", "attitude", "sodomy", "keeping house of ill repute", "bestiality", "displaying of obscene material" as disqualifying factors. "Cohabitation, adultery, illegitimate children" could also be disqualifying.
• January 31, 2008. Robert Nelson, Dennis Byrnes and Susan Foster, plaintiffs in the matter Nelson et al. vs. NASA, Dept. of Commerce and Caltech, on behalf of concerned Caltech employees at JPL wrote a letter highlighting the Appellate Court injunction decision and seeking help and support from the broader Caltech academic community. This and previous letters, as well as other material distributed to JPL and Caltech community can be found on the Reference Documents page
• In the ongoing proceedings in the District Court, plaintiffs move to certify the following class (suppl.) for injunctive and declaratory relief:

  All current and future employees and subcontractors of the California Institute of Technology hired to work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or required to have physical or electronic access to that laboratory, who hold "non sensitive" or low risk positions, and are required to complete OPM Standard Form 85 and submit to a background investigation as set forth in NASA Interim Directive 1600.1.

  Plaintiffs are seeking certification as an injunctive relief class, which is a common method to obtain broad based injunctive relief under the federal rules of procedure. Plaintiffs believe certification, if granted by the court, will ensure that any injunction ultimately entered applies to all employees and contractors working at JPL. Federal defendants are opposing any class certification.
• See more details on the Lawsuit, Press releases, and Media Coverage pages.

Other new things on this site

• Interactive timeline of the court proceedings and the associated events.
• If you want a T-shirt, button, mousepad, or mug, please visit cafepress.com/hspd12jpl. This is the recommended way for people outside of the local area to acquire these items. (JPLers can also get one by contacting the webmaster.) We don't get any of this money, but it is still a great way to show your support!
• JPL scientists call for senate inquiry. Read their letter, which is also archived on the reference documents page.
• See an informational brochure you can print and distribute yourself. It's on the reference documents page, too.

Outside JPL

• On June 3, 2008 U.S. Reps. Kucinich and Davis addressed HSPD-12 among other NASA workforce issues in the context of NASA's budget authorization:

  ...we recommend that H.R. 6063 include a provision that requires that NASA halt implementation of its new policy of reinvestigating employees in low-risk positions, until the constitutionality of this process is fully settled by the Courts. The President issued Homeland Security Policy Directive #12 to mandate that all civil servant and contractor employees who have access to federal facilities be subjected to standard background checks and be issued standardized badges that can allow Agencies to reliably verify an employee's identity. While we do not object to this security measure, its implementation has been flawed. NASA has used HSPD-12 to instigate a new security policy, NPR1600.1, which establishes periodic reinvestigation of long-time NASA civil-servant employees who have already passed earlier background checks. Furthermore, the affected positions include those rated as low-risk. The process is so intrusive, the 9th circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction preventing its implementation for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory contract employees pending judicial review. Regrettably, NASA has decided to interpret this injunction narrowly and to move forward with re-investigations of low-risk civil-service employees using the same constitutionally suspect process. We believe that the decision to go beyond HSPD-12 and to subject NASA's civil service employees to an unnecessary, expensive and intrusive invasion of privacy is unwarranted and unwise.

• On April 9, 2008, U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) held a hearing, "Federal Security: ID Cards and Background Checks."
  
  "The hearing [released] a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding that the program is incurring high costs but providing little benefit to date..."
  
  Letters written to the committee are on our Forum. We encourage you to post yours as well.
• No federal agency met the October 27, 2007 deadline to complete the HSPD-12 background checks
• IRS wasted millions of dollars implementing HSPD-12, according to an Inspector General report. The same report cites the estimated 14-year cost of implementing HSPD-12 at the Dept. of the Treasury (with 1.5x as many personnel as NASA), at $421 Million, a bit over the cost of a Mars scout mission
• NASA's Johnson Space Center employees and contractors are concerned about HSPD-12.
• Ames Federal Employees Union is concerned about aspects of HSPD-12 rebadging.
• Contractor employees of U.S. Department of Education have a problem with the "security screenings".

Welcome to the fight against JPL's rebadging process. This site contains information about why the $6 million rebadging process is unfair, unethical, and illegal. Read about it for yourself, and if you agree with us, join our fight against it!

You may be shocked when you find out what is really involved, how dangerous it is, and how much of your freedom you are giving up. To get rebadged, you don't simply provide information on forms-- you provide information that begins an investigation of you.

Did you know:

• That the release form on the SF85 or SF85P authorizes an investigator to obtain "any information" on you from schools, residences, employers, criminal establishments, and any other sources, and that the investigation is explicitly "not limited"?
• That each of the neighbors, supervisors, and references you are required to provide will be sent a questionnaire asking about your "mental or emotional stability," "financial integrity," and "abuse of alcohol and/or drugs," among other things?
• That SF85 remains in effect for two years, whether or not you stay at JPL? In other words, federal agents can use your SF85 release as permission to investigate you for two full years, even if you are no longer affiliated with a federal agency
• That the new rules prevent JPL from issuing retiree badges?
• That the official SF85 and SF85p forms describe the process as "voluntary," but that jpl will terminate your employment if you don't fill it out?

This is just a sampling of why the process is causing concern. If these provisions worry you even a little, you may want to read the FAQ and in-depth research to learn more.

If you are new to how HSPD-12 works at JPL, you may also want to read this overview of HSPD-12 and the JPL rebadging process.