U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently requested details from the National Mediation Board (NMB) on its plans to ensure its information technology (IT) security, continuity of information, and long-term personnel stability.
The senator’s request follows an April 26 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found NMB to date has not implemented crucial reforms to secure government information and ensure operations during a crisis, and has issues filling staff vacancies that have negatively impacted its ability to fulfill responsibilities.
“NMB is a critical component of domestic labor-management relations for our nation’s railroad and airline industries,” wrote Sen. Cassidy in a May 30 letter sent to NMB Chair Deirdre Hamilton. “NMB’s failure to implement years-old GAO recommendations to protect its information security systems and to address NMB’s staff recruitment and impending retirement cliff raises significant concerns.”
Federal law dictates that the GAO conduct an audit of NMB’s programs and activities every two years. In its recent report, the GAO found that NMB failed to implement GAO’s 2020 recommendation to update its IT systems to meet required federal standards that ensure all cloud services have sufficient security authorizations and that the federal government’s data is sufficiently protected, according to Sen. Cassidy’s letter.
Additionally, NMB has not updated its continuity of operations plan since 2016 as recommended by GAO. The plan would ensure employees have clear guidance on the official NMB chain of command and protocol in the event of an emergency, he wrote.
The GAO’s report also raises concerns that NMB has been unable to fill many of its vacant positions, some of which have been open for years, according to the letter.
“In light of the role NMB played in staving off economic catastrophe in the negotiations between railway workers and carriers in 2022, and the potential that NMB may have to perform a similar role in the near future for other industries, NMB must take decisive action to correct these shortcomings,” wrote Sen. Cassidy.
The lawmaker requested that Hamilton answer numerous questions by June 13, including why the agency hasn’t implemented the GAO’s recommendations and what plans it has going forward to do so.