House Subcommitee Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) believes it's not sufficient that federal employment be open to felons. He's pushing for job set asides for felons as well:

Davis said agencies should work with federally and locally funded rehabilitation programs to hire recently released felons as a way to help them reintegrate into society and reduce recidivism. Justice Department statistics show more than 50 percent of convicted felons offend again. Davis thinks giving some of them government jobs could reduce that number.

“We are contradictory in our practices,” he said. “We talk redemption, but the way we treat individuals does not show that we believe in providing redemption.”

To make such a program work, Congress would need to direct agencies to cordon off a certain number of nonsensitive jobs — such as mail room, janitorial or maintenance work — for ex-offenders, he said. Such a program would likely start off as a pilot program...

Davis said his legislation would likely not bar felons from working at agencies with sensitive missions, such as the CIA, but would rather bar them from specific jobs.

“You can cut the grass at the CIA without needing a clearance, you can clean windows,” he said. “It’s more the categories of jobs that they should probably not be allowed to do.”

Congressman Davis puts the recidivism rate at 50 percent; Senator Biden says it's two-thirds. While there are undoubtedly many ex-cons deserving of a second chance, is it appropriate to give them a leg up over law-abiding Americans in the competition for jobs? The article points out that the EEOC considers it discrimination for an employer to consider a felony conviction as part of making a hiring decision. If anything then, it seems to me that the push should be in the other direction--to allow employers to decide whether an applicant's criminal record may interfere with his or her job duties.

National security advocates will be pleased to see that Congressman Davis takes your concerns seriously. He doesn't want convicted felons to hold sensitive jobs--perhaps nothing higher than cutting the grass and cleaning windows. That would be a dramatic reform indeed, considering that employees of the CIA and other intelligence agencies are generally forbidden from bringing cameras and cell phones into sensitive areas. This suggestion makes me wonder if there's any particular ex-con that Mr. Davis is trying to get back into a sensitive government facility.