Chinese spy headed to prison

From Metro:

A former FBI employee in New York was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after admitting that he illegally acted at the direction of a Chinese official to gather sensitive information.

Kun Shan Chun, also known as Joey Chun, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan to pay $10,000 after pleading guilty in August to having illegally acted as an agent of a foreign government.

"I'm so sorry," a tearful Chun said in court. "I take full responsibility."

Chun, a U.S. citizen who was born in China, was arrested in March in connection with what prosecutors called a duplicitous betrayal of the FBI, which had employed him in its New York field office since 1997.

Prosecutors said that beginning in 2005, Chinese individuals claiming to be affiliated with a China-based printer products manufacturer called Zhuhai Kolion Technology Company Ltd solicited an investment from one of Chun's parents.

Chun, 47, first met purported Kolion associates during a 2005 trip, and met them abroad at several other times, eventually meeting a Chinese official who asked him about the FBI and surveillance practices and targets, prosecutors said.

In turn, Chun provided the official an FBI organizational chart and photographs related to surveillance technologies, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Chun's associates paid for him to go on international trips, and they sometimes also paid for prostitutes for him while he was abroad, prosecutors said.

Keeping stuff out of the country

From NBC:

Federal officers in Queens inspect packages, making sure the environment stays free of invasive plant and animal species that could harm our local ecosystems. Marc Santia reports.

Accountant wins license plate jackpot

From the NY Post:

In a stunning security lapse, the federal General Services Administration mistakenly shipped nearly three dozen license plates marked "U.S. Government -- For Official Use Only" to a humble Queens accountant, The Post has learned.

The foul-up is part of a troubling pattern of lost license plates at the agency, which handles plates for every federal office except the military.

"I don't know how it happened. Mistakes can happen, but I guess in this day and age, you want to be careful," said Antonio Guadagnino, who received the package, addressed to him, via UPS at his small Astoria office.

"If they ended up in the wrong hands, they could be used to get into secure places. Not everyone is so honest," added Guadagnino, who said that he never held a federal contract and that his business consists mostly of personal income-tax returns.

Unsure of what to do with the plates, he handed them over to state Sen. Michael Gianaris, whose district office is in the same building.

But, Gianaris said, the GSA didn't appear overly concerned.

"The reaction we got was that this was business as usual," he said.

"This is not a time in our nation's history to be screwing around with federal identification. What would happen if they wound up in someone else's hands, someone who thought he could profit selling them -- or worse?"

You may click away

From the NY Times:

It is O.K. to take photos while standing in public spaces near federal buildings, after all. In a settlement with the New York Civil Liberties Union reached Monday, the federal government agreed to instruct its employees in writing of the “public’s general right to photograph the exterior of federal courthouses from publicly accessible spaces” and to remind them that “there are currently no general security regulations prohibiting exterior photography by individuals from publicly accessible spaces, absent a written local rule, regulation or order.”

Another photographer detained illegally

From the Daily News:

An amateur photographer is suing the Department of Homeland Security, saying his arrest for filming a political protest outside a Manhattan courthouse was illegal.

Antonio Musumeci, a 29-year-old software programmer, videotaped the arrest of a Libertarian activist outside Manhattan Federal Court last year.

His lawsuit says that even though he was standing in a public plaza next to the courthouse, an inspector with the Federal Protective Service told him he was under arrest.

Musumeci was forced to sit on the sidewalk for 20 minutes, he says. His camera memory card was confiscated and he got a ticket for filming on federal property, a violation.

The ticket was later dismissed in Manhattan Federal Court, court papers say. His memory card was never returned.

Musumeci, himself a member of the Manhattan Libertarian Party, later returned to the courthouse to videotape other political protests organized by the group and made sure to stand on the public sidewalk.

Even so, he was again threatened with arrest, according to the lawsuit the New York Civil Liberties Union filed Thursday on his behalf.

"In our society, people have a clear right to use cameras in public places without being hassled and arrested by federal agents or police," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.

"We understand the need for heightened security around federal buildings, but the government cannot arrest people for taking pictures in a public plaza."

Calls to the Federal Protective Service and the Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.

Feds investigating oversight of rail projects

Feds probe rail-project $$ bungle
By TOM NAMAKO Transit Reporter, NY Post

Federal investigators are probing how government money has been used in four of the city's largest transit mega-projects -- all of which are way over budget or years behind schedule.

The inspector general at the US Department of Transportation wants to determine if another federal agency botched its oversight of $7 billion in federal funds pumped in to the Second Avenue Subway, Fulton Transit Center, the new PATH terminal, and extending the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.

"These projects in total, have experienced billions in cost overruns and years of schedule delays," said assistant Inspector General Joseph Come.

The agency in charge of managing the money is the Federal Transit Administration.

"Our focus is waste, fraud and abuse -- what's going on," one federal official said. "Our role is to focus on the FTA, and if it's doing its job in respect to its oversight."

The sweeping review began on March 25, and is expected to last 10 months.

All of the projects are being built by the MTA except for the PATH terminal, which is managed by the Port Authority.

"We want to understand the money and follow everything down every rabbit hole," the official said.

Of the federal funds allocated to those projects, $700 million was in stimulus funding -- with a sizeable portion going to Fulton Street's glass dome.

The price tag on the PATH terminal alone jumped from $2 billion to $3 billion.

The MTA declined comment; the PA promised to cooperate with the probe.

U.S. Census Bureau Offers Census Exam

Response to Census 2010 recruiting efforts has been overwhelming, but New York Regional Census Center (NYRCC) officials are still testing applicants for possible future employment in hard to count areas in which the questionnaire mailback response rate has traditionally been low and which may face challenges such as language barriers or cultural isolation.

Interested applicants should be advised that recruitment will be targeted, and there is a possibility that recruitment will not be conducted in their area at this time.

If an applicant has already taken and passed the Census test, but was not hired, he or she does not have to retake the test. The applicant’s information remains on file, and he or she will be eligible to be called for Census work for a few positions beginning in March 2010, and considerably more positions in late April 2010.

All Census taker positions are short term, temporary jobs, determined by the volume of work in each neighborhood. Hiring is based on need in a particular geographic area and test score, from the highest score down. All Census takers must be able to speak English, but people with bilingual skills are needed in communities where a large number of residents primarily speak other languages.

If an applicant was hired to work as a Census taker in the spring of 2009, he or she does not have to take another test. Their information remains in Census files and they could be called back for Census taker work in the spring of 2010.

Census taker positions are not guaranteed to anyone. Simply passing the test does not guarantee hiring, nor does previous Census employment.

Census taker jobs are excellent for people who want to work part-time, are between jobs, or who want to earn extra money and help their community. These short-term jobs offer good pay, flexible hours, paid training, and reimbursement for authorized work-related expenses such as mileage incurred while conducting Census work. Best of all, Census takers work right in their own communities.

Interested applicants should monitor the website www.2010censusjobs.gov for more information on Census taker positions.

Apply today by calling 1-866-861-2010. You will be informed as to whether the Census Bureau is currently recruiting in your area and if so, you will be directed to your local Census office to schedule a test. If the Census Bureau is not currently recruiting in your area, your name will be placed on a “will call” list for possible future opportunities.

Pay in the NYC area is $18.75/hour.

Sweet housing deal for federal workers

From the NY Post:

Talk about a safe house.

At Fort Hamilton Homes in Bay Ridge, prospective tenants are being offered awesome views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, spacious living accommodations, and peace of mind — reinforced quite literally by the fact that their homes are guarded by the United States Army, this paper has learned.

The Fort Hamilton army base is now allowing postal workers, U.S. Census Bureau staff — any federal employee or military retiree — an opportunity to live shoulder to musket with active military personnel.

Army base spokesperson John Manley said the housing was opened up to federal employees within the last eight months. “Essentially, it’s because there aren’t enough soldiers on active duty here,” he said. “We’re trying to fill up the housing and open it up to other eligible categories.”

The development company maintains the housing for the federal government in exchange for the rent it collects. Once it was seen that there were not enough people to fill the 288 available units, the criteria were loosened, Manley said. “It is a business to them,” Manley noted. “They are looking to fill the units.”

In total, there are 185 newly constructed homes and 37 newly renovated homes on the base, along with six newly renovated historic homes. Shapiro said that just 53 of the total units remain vacant. All the units are rentals she said, with a range of prices: a three bedroom, 2,000 square foot apartment rents for $2,499 a month until Oct. 31, for example, and a one bedroom goes for $1,100 a month. “The beauty of it is that while we are situated in Brooklyn, we have rolling hills and grass here. It’s a little slice of heaven,” she said.

Anthony Mercante, the asset manager for the privatized housing program, called Residential Communities Initiative (RCI), said the units are a conglomeration of sorts, from town homes to garden style apartments.