Federal Drive with Tom Temin

In 2002, the creation of a key leadership role transformed how agencies manage what many say is the federal government's most critical asset, its people. The Chief Human Capital Officers Act established both the CHCO role and the CHCO Council to ensure effective management of the government wide workforce. But challenges in human capital still persist. Here with more, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Quantum Computing remains an area of research and development, but US officials are concerned adversaries could steal sensitive data now and decrypt it in the future. As quantum technology progresses, agencies are now exploring how to incorporate post quantum cryptographic standards into their technologies. Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday is here with the latest.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are nearly 147,000 people who have TSP balances greater than one million dollars. Would you like to be one of them? We get some practical advice from federal retiree Abe Grungold of AG Financial Services.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The HUD OIG says 31 outstanding recommendations warrant "priority" status in 2025 because they would have the most significant impact on HUD programs. To explain how, and what happens next, the Acting Inspector General for HUD, Stephen Begg, joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As DOGE searches for efficiencies everywhere, including in DoD, one organization that advocates for servicemembers and veterans worries that real harm may be done in the process. The President and CEO of the Military Officers Association of America, or MOAA, Lieutenant General (Retired) Brian Kelly, joins me now to discuss.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton The search for government efficiencies may break promises made to military servicemembers and veterans Essential findings on the HUD OIG's list of priority issues for 2025 So you want to be a TSP millionaire?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A second group of consulting contractors is coming under the General Services Administration's microscope. A new set of 10 vendors have until this Friday to submit data analysis and options for potential savings on their existing consulting contracts to GSA and agency customers for review. For more on GSA s continued effort to reshape federal consulting contracts. Federal News Network's Executive Editor Jason Miller joins me now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration is requiring agencies to track whether federal employees are coming back to the office and whether those return to office plans still leave them with underutilized office space. The Office of Management and Budget wants agencies to begin tracking this data at federal buildings, a capability that's mostly been lacking up until now. Some of the Trump administration's actions around federal office space are in line with the bill signed into law in the final days of the Biden administration and Federal News networks. Jory Heckman joins me with more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Preventing and responding to incidents of domestic terrorism requires Federal, state, and local assets to work together. GAO recently reported that the existing national strategy is missing some key information that could clarify key roles and missions. Here with more is the Director of homeland security and justice issues at GAO, Triana McNeil.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI is everywhere these days, and it is touted as the magical solution to almost every problem. But if you don't speak AI, how do you get started? The University of Maryland is offering a free, online AI and Career Empowerment Certificate to help federal workers and others build AI literacy. Here to share more about this opportunity is Professor Balaji Padmanabhan.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Through the end of April, the Trump administration announced more than 275,000 federal civil service layoffs nationwide. As these civil servants are re-evaluating their futures, Michigan wants them to know it offers new careers, incentives, placement programs and more. Joining me to share the details is Chief Growth Officer for the State of Michigan, Hilary Doe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton One Midwest state wants to attract displaced feds A free program to help former feds get started in AI What's missing from the National Strategy to address domestic terrorismSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employee benefits could be on the chopping block as GOP lawmakers move forward with their budget reconciliation bill, Republicans are considering everything from cutting annuity supplements to charging a filing fee to file a case with the Merit Systems Protection Board. This all comes as federal employees are weighing their options for taking an early retirement or a deferred resignation. Here to help answer some common questions about the benefits proposals federal news networks Drew Friedman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More signs that the Defense Department's multi billion dollar contract to overhaul household goods shipments is not going well. As peak moving season gets underway, at least one military service is temporarily walking away from the global household goods contract and thousands of moves that were supposed to be handled by Home Safe the new vendor are headed back to DoD's legacy moving system. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu has been following the GHC saga for the last several years, and he's with us now for an update. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two recent cases in the court of federal claims prove just how important it is for contractors to pay attention to their SAM registrations and how careful those currently reviewing the FAR need to be with any changes. With more details, Haynes Boone procurement attorney, Zach Prince, joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Among attorneys who deal with federal employment and fairness issues, our next guest might be unique. She was a long-time member of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Director of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. And a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Before all of that, she was general counsel to two large federal labor union. For a look at how things stand, Federal News Network's Tom Temin caught up with Susan Tsui Grundmann .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's plan to reorganize the State Department may not be as draconian as an earlier version suggested, but it still has plenty of structural changes. Will it make a difference in how diplomacy operates? Here with an inside look is the Founder and CEO of fp21, Dan Spokojny. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton What the latest proposal to reorganize the State Department tells us about diplomatic priorities When it comes to protecting federal employees, she's done it all No surprise--Attention to detail matters in federal acquisition regulations See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing for significant cuts to its workforce after hiring surged under the Biden administration, the VA is setting a goal of cutting 15% of its workforce. That would mean 10s of 1000s fewer employees. Secretary Doug Collins told lawmakers he hasn't finalized the plan yet, and the cuts could be higher or lower than that goal. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman joins us with more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration summarily replaced Cameron Hamilton, the Acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week after he spoke against eliminating the agency in front of Congress. For more on what's happening at FEMA, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tax cuts, crypto regulation, air traffic control, and the Library of Congress. There's no shortage of issues for Congress and no clear way ahead. Hre to help us sort through what's happening on the hill, Deputy news director at bloomberg government, Loren Duggan.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Employers and employees have rights and obligations under Title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. New technical guidance from the EEOC and DOJ tries to clarify how DEI-related initiatives may create unlawful discrimination in workplaces, but it may raise more questions than it answers. My next guest, Chai Feldblum, a former Commissioner of the EEOC, is here to help us sort it out.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration has cancelled close to $3 billion in NIH and NSF research grants. His 2026 skinny budget proposes further cuts to NSF, NIH, and NASA's research programs. To discuss the impact of these cuts, the Co-chair of the House Research and Development Caucus, Illinois Representative Bill Foster joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton The only member of Congress with a PhD in science weighs in on Trump's cuts New DEI guidance from the EEOC and DOJ generates lots of questions Congress adds a little SALT to the reconciliation bill discussionsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department's latest effort to obtain secure software kicked off a 90 day sprint this week to develop a framework and an implementation plan under the software fast track, or SWFT initiative. The Pentagon's goal with SWFT is to replace the reliance on the risk management framework and give the military services and defense agencies easier access to secure software. For more on this DoD initiative, Federal News Network's executive editor, Jason Miller joins me now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As the Defense Department's civilian workforce continues to shrink, defense agencies are turning to automation and artificial intelligence to offset the impacts of workforce reductions. Federal News Network's Anastasia Opus joins me now to share the details. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act passed on a bipartisan basis a decade ago. But to get consensus, a lot of provisions got left behind. Now it's time to reauthorize, and with that comes the opportunity to modernize and fix the original provisions. Here to discuss whether, and how, Congress might move forward, Partner at Wiley Rein, Megan Brown.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Foreign aid is often intertwined with national security and diplomacy, which can make it seem like Congress has limited control. But as the Executive Branch cuts critical foreign aid, non-profits are asking Congress to exercise its power of the purse to take a more active role in directing and distributing these foreign aid funds. Bread for the World's government relations director, Bob Powers, joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton As the executive branch slashes foreign aid programs, will Congress step in? What might change in a CISA 2015 reauthorizationSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration wants to end what it sees as a culture of everyone gets a trophy in the Senior Executive Service. A new proposed rule from the Office of Personnel Management would require agencies to significantly limit how many senior executives receive the highest ratings in performance reviews. Federal News Network's Drew. Friedman joins me now with more details.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration's 2026 budget request would cut spending across several department of homeland security components, but lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pressing DHS for more details on those proposed reductions for the latest Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veterans know that you need a map to help you get where you want to go. But when it comes to getting a job in the tech sector, a map might not be enough. Now, there's a new program to help veterans, especially those formerly employed by the federal government and recently laid off, make the transition into high-demand private-sector cybersecurity and tech roles. Here to tell us more about this effort, Vets in Tech Founder and CEO , Katherine Webster.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration has declared war on Mexican drug cartels. Federal contractors already have to declare they don't do business with foreign terrorist organizations. But new guidance from the Department of Justice means it turns out it might not be so easy to tell who's who, and that has legal repercussions. To help us understand these new complexities, Counsels from King and Spalding, Mike Galdo and Brandt Leibe join me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Warfighting has changed dramatically. New threats, new technologies, and new realms like space and cyber arise quickly and require adaptation. But the Pentagon is still organized like it's 1950. A new paper from the American Enterprise Institute says now is the time for a top-to-bottom realignment. Here with more details is AEI non-resident senior fellow and retired Army major general, John Ferrari.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry GertonA proposal to reorganize the entire Department of Defense, all of it, all at once One non-profit wants to help veterans make the leap to private sector AINew legal concerns for federal contractors who might also do work in MexicoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Marine Corps is DoD only military service that's managed to pass a financial statement audit. But the way it's gone about it isn't the sort of thing you'd want to do over the long term. The current process is expensive, time consuming, and filled with manual work arounds, but officials say they recognize those issues, and the next step is to make those successful audits more sustainable details now from Federal News Network's Jared Serbu. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This year's tax filing season is over, but the IRS is setting mandatory weekend overtime hours for some employees that's to get ahead of a backlog of tax returns flagged as having possible errors in them. Those tax returns need employees to manually review them before they're processed. The IRS faces this workload as it prepares to cut tens of thousands of employees from its workforce. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman joins us with more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The FedRAMP program at the General Services Administration has enabled agencies to safely use commercial cloud computing for more than a decade. Last month the GSA launched an update called FedRAMP 20-X. It's designed to make it easier and faster for vendors to get the authorization they need to take on federal customers. For how it looks to industry, we turn to the founder and CEO of RegScale, Travis Howerton.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For his second go around at this president thing, Donald Trump's cabinet confirmation's has outpaced three of the last four administrations. If you've been following his policy measures, you won't be surprised to hear that his nominees are not quite as diverse as previous cabinets. Those are just a couple of the findings from the Brookings Institution, where its Center for Effective Public Management continues to keep a tally of which posts are filled. For more, we welcome back to the program Katie Dunn Tenpas, who is a visiting fellow at Brookings, Ms. Tenpas welcome back.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program seems to transcend generations. The first copy took flight back in 2006. The capable but finicky aircraft continues to have maintenance and manufacturing problems. Now it has a new program manager on the contractor end of the program. Earlier Federal News Network's Tom Temin spoke with Lockheed Martin's Chauncey McIntosh.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton A status report on the most expensive weapon system ever Looking at the Trump administration against its predecessors The FedRAMP cloud security program goes cloud nativeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon's purge of Diversity Equity and Inclusion personnel actually began in 2024 following a provision in the annual defense policy bill that mandated changes to the department's dei workforce while the Trump administration finalized the cuts, Congress laid most of the groundwork well before this administration took office for more Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis spoke to the Government Accountability Office's Managing Director, Cathleen Berrick.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.