Federal Drive with Tom Temin

By modern standards anyway, it's been a frenzy of legislative activity on Capitol Hill. Besides the annual appropriation and authorization process, first we had the far-reaching CHIPS Act. Then, just yesterday afternoon, the Senate gave final passage to the Inflation Reduction Act, after a full weekend of votes on amendments. Federal News Netork's Deputy Editor Jared Serbu talked about all of this and more with Loren Duggan, deputy news director at Bloomberg Government.

A 2017 mass shooting incident in Texas is at least partly the fault of the Air Force. That's what a court ruled because the Air Force had not put the shooter's criminal history into the FBI's background-check system, allowing the shooter to purchase the rifle with which he murdered 25 people. Now the Justice Department has filed an appeal of the Air Force ruling. To discuss the victims' side of the tragedy, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke to plaintiff's attorney Jamal Alsaffar.

Kiosks are like robots that don't move. They replace people for high-volume, repetitive tasks like checking people in or issuing paperwork. Now the General Services Administration is looking for ideas for using kiosks to identify people or issue credentials, remotely. For more details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke to Darlene Gore, GSA's director of identity, credential and access management.

The United States declared monkeypox a national health emergency on Thursday and clinics across the nation are working to get vaccines to those most threatened by the disease. Now, the Air Force is getting the word out that it has vaccines available for its airmen on demand. The service announced it is providing vaccines to airmen who are at high-risk for monkeypox immediately if possible. If the shot is not at the clinic, the Air Force will ship the vaccine within 48 hours.

CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility is looking to hire hundreds of criminal investigators and other personnel over the next year. The hiring spree comes as OPR responds to a growing number of complaints and incidents at the nation's largest law enforcement agency. Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday spoke about this with Dan Altman, the executive director for investigative operations at OPR.

Army brass have been pursuing a modernizing strategy for some time now via the Army Futures Command. It has focused on doctrine and lethality and the systems to keep the Army out front. But the Futures Command is also looking at modernizing another component where the Army has historically innovated. Namely, its medical operations. For an update on that, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the chief of medical readiness and integration, Col.Mike Mansell.

Each year the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General looks at VA staffing. In particular, whether crucial medical staff jobs slots are filled or if VA has what are known as severe occupational staffing shortages. It's had mixed results recently. To find out more, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke about a recent IG report with the deputy assistant IG for healthcare inspections Julie Kroviak.

Democrat Senate lawmakers proposed legislation that would prevent tens of thousands of federal workers from becoming at-will employees.The Preventing a Patronage System Act, which Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced on August 2, would stop agency heads from reclassifying any federal civil service position outside of a merit-based system.

When people get some sort of foodborne illness, you want the source off the market as soon as possible. At one time that took weeks or even months. A government doctor developed an application of a methodology called genomic epidemiology to foodborne heebee geebies. It greatly speeds up pinpointing the source. For his work, he's a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with Dr. Steven Musser, deputy director for scientific operations in the F-D-A's center for food safety and applied nutrition.

For decades, the government -- mainly the Defense department -- has used organized consortia of companies to acquire advanced technologies. Now the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University has urged the Pentagon to consider a list of ways to improve the consortium model. The find out more about this, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Center Senior Fellow Stephanie Halcrow.

It happened in the Obama administration and again during the Trump administration. The IRS appearing to engage in politically influenced activities. Earlier it was denying tax exemptions to conservative non-profits. Then it was audits of people not favored by the White House. For how audits are supposed to work, and mainly do, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the president of the Professional Managers Association, Chad Hooper.

The Coast Guard's transition to a new Department of Homeland Security financial management system is under the microscope at the Senate Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers are seeking more information about delayed payments and cost increases.The committee, in the report on its fiscal 2023 spending bill, is directing DHS's chief financial officer and chief information officer, along with the Coast Guard, to brief the committee on the delays once the annual spending bill becomes law.

The Coast Guard's transition to a new Department of Homeland Security financial management system is under the microscope at the Senate Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers are seeking more information about delayed payments and cost increases.The committee, in the report on its fiscal 2023 spending bill, is directing DHS's chief financial officer and chief information officer, along with the Coast Guard, to brief the committee on the delays once the annual spending bill becomes law.

Senate appropriators proposed last week an end to a four-decade-old provision that restricts the government from funding abortions and, in turn, could expand reproductive care for military service members and federal employees.The proposal is part of a set of bills to fund the government through fiscal 2023, which includes $850 billion for national security when taking into account the Defense appropriations bill, military construction spending and some military-related Energy Department funds. That number is well over the Biden administration's $813 billion request for national security and outpaces the House Appropriations Committee and both Armed Services Committees' bills on spending.

Text messages you send for official business on a government-issued phone are official records. Now the Secret Service has famously lost hundreds of thousands of texts, reportedly because of a phone system switchover. The January 6 hearings were mostly about former President Donald Trump. For what the Secret Service might face legally, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with federal legal eagle John Mahoney.

The Government Accountability Office looks at every agency at one time or another. Some more often than others. No one is exempt from this oversight, even the overseers within the executive branch. GAO has a continuing list of recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget, which it recently reiterated. Federal Drive host Tom Temin got all the details from the GAO's director of strategic issues, Michelle Sager.

If national security and national economic competitiveness are driven by new technology, then the U.S. is at risk for falling behind. That's according to the newest data analysis from Govini. It found that federal spending on a range of technologies is up. But in certain domains of research and development it's not keeping up with China. Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked about all of this with Govini CEO Tara Murphy Dougherty.

A group of former special agents at the Justice Department's Drug Enforcement Administration will soon receive a settlement from a sex discrimination case, three decades after its original filing. The $12 million settlement, which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finalized on July 22, will go to 71 agents who filed claims in the class-action lawsuit. The case centered on a systemic discrimination practice at DEA, which denied qualified female special agents overseas positions, a type of experience that led to faster promotions and frequently went to male agents.

Military branches are taking a tougher stance to combat sexual assault to create safer environments for soldiers and encourage victims to come forward.The Army, Navy and Air Force are implementing new policies aimed at reducing assaults. The Defense Department has been battling sexual assault incidents for years and is in the process of implementing more than 80 recommendations from an independent review commission that finished its work last year.

House Oversight and Reform Committee members were more engaged this past Thursday on federal IT management issues than we have seen in some time. Not only were the questions relevant, but the lawmakers did not stray into the silly, non-sequitur or totally unrelated world that could've easily happened during the 14th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard hearing on July 28.

Keep an eye on a Senate bill to remake federal acquisition. It's called the Agile Procurement Act and it has bipartisan sponsorship. Its stated purpose, among other things, is to make it easier for the government to buy commercial goods and services. Federal sales marketing consultant says the bill scratches an itch that comes up every 25 years or so. He spoke with Federal Drive host Tom Temin.

Among the 160 pages of the SF-86 form, are questions about your mental health. The form, which anyone with national security clearance has had to deal with, doesn't decide whether you get clearance. People do. And how they evaluate answers to mental health questions is about to undergo some revision. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke about all of this with the assistant director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Mark Frownfelter.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center or ERDC, has a new commander. Following ERDC's first ever female commander, the first ever African-American commander is now at the helm. Federal News Network's spoke with the new man in charge: Lt. Col. Christian Patterson.

Congress did manage to get some big bills passed last week. But, it made little progress on normal appropriations for fiscal 2023. In fact, another continuing resolution come October 1 is looking inevitable. Federal Drive host Tom Temin gets the latest from WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

Not everything on Capitol Hill is totally partisan. Take the myriad of threats from China. Two senators from opposite parties recently urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the phenomenon of TikTok. For more on this, and other topics, Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with Virginia Senator Mark Warner.

Not everything on Capitol Hill is totally partisan. Take the myriad of threats from China. Two senators from opposite parties recently urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the phenomenon of TikTok. For more on this, and other topics, Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with Virginia Senator Mark Warner.

The Coast Guard is thinking ahead about how it will keep its ranks full in future years as all of the military services are feeling the crunch of a smaller talent pool and lower propensity to join the service. Testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan said the service needs to change its policies and tactics to become more attractive to potential recruit.

The Pentagon's contractor cybersecurity certification program took a major step forward this week with confirmation that voluntary third-party assessments will kick off next month, while at the same time a newly released process document is causing consternation in industry. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program is in the early stages of rulemaking after undergoing a major revision late last year, but voluntary CMMC assessments are scheduled to begin Aug. 22 and continue for several weeks, officials confirmed.

Civilian federal employees are one step closer to a 4.6% across-the-board pay raise in 2023, and for the first time since at least 2014, are inching toward a lift of the pay freeze for political appointees in the Senior Executive Service. Senate appropriators on the Financial Services and General Government subcommittee aligned with the White House's federal pay raise request on July 28, after releasing the fiscal 2023 financial services and general government draft spending bill.

The IRS gets another shot at long-term investment in its enforcement and taxpayer services. The budget reconciliation package announced Wednesday night by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) would give the IRS $80 billion over the next 10 years, with a focus on tax enforcement.

Innovation is the word of the day. Every organization talks about innovating and hiring innovators. How to you find such people -- whether inside your agency or applying for jobs -- and make sure they're able to, well, innovate? For one view, innovation Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with Entrepreneur-in-Residence at consultancy BMNT and former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency innovation hub chief, Sabra Horne.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents a couple of hundred thousand Veterans Affairs employees, is gleeful these days. It helped shoot down a plan for an independent review board to look at VA's proposals for rearranging its nationwide map of facilities. To find our why they oppose the planso much, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the First Executive President of AFGE's national VA council, Mary Jane Burke.

The Coast Guard Academy has reached a record for its incoming class, with 43% of the new swabs being women. To talk about this and other goings-on at the academy, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Superintendent, Rear Admiral Bill Kelly.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, it didn't take long for terrorist groups to take advantage of it. ISIS set up a website to ostensibly sell face masks, but really to get money peddling inferior products. But a team from the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations, and Homeland Security Investigations stopped this activity by seizing 300 cryptocurrency accounts worth $2 million. That's not all. For their work, they're finalists in this year's Service to America Medals program. One team member, Chris Janczewski, formerly with the IRS, talked with Federal Drive host Tom Temin about how they caught the criminals.

Supercomputers keep getting faster. Just a few years ago it took teraflops -- or trillions of floating point operations per second -- to make the list of the world's fastest computers. Now it takes exaflops, quintillions of operations per second. And now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has switched on a machine that makes 1.1 exaflops of performance. It's called Frontier. Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked about Frontier with Oak Ridge distinguished scientist and Frontier project officer, Scott Atchley.

The Navy's oceanography activities go wide and deep. They also include tracking and, if necessary, neutralizing things in the ocean that didn't get their naturally. Like explosive mines. That's where the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center comes it. In Federal Drive host Tom Temin's final interview of this week's series on naval oceanography, he talks with the Mine Warfare Center's commanding officer, Commander Matthew Watts.

Agencies made history in fiscal 2021 by awarding more total prime contract dollars to small businesses than ever before. Data from the Small Business Administration shows not only did agencies surpass the governmentwide goal of 23%, but increased total spending with small firms by $8 billion.

Former intelligence leaders are trying to boost the role of open source intelligence at U.S. spy agencies through a new foundation that plans to develop community-wide standards and help professionalize the OSINT workforce. The unveiling of the OSINT Foundation comes at a time when social media feeds and other public analysis are providing unprecedented public insights into world events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Congress and other advocates are calling on intelligence leaders to develop new open source strategies to better take advantage of publicly available information.

Long-time defense contractor Raytheon won in court when it sued the government over intellectual property. What the company thought was IP, the government assumed as merely technical data it could share with anyone. To find out what happened and why it's important, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Smith Pachter McWhorter partner Zach Prince.

Supply shortages, overpriced parts, questionable foreign sources; they all threaten the Defense supply chain. The Government Accountability Office found, though, that DOD's Industrial Base Policy Office doesn't have a fully developed strategy to mitigate those risks. Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked about this with GAO's director of contracting and national security acquisitions, Bill Russell.

DATELINE: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii -- Nobody likes typhoons or tropical storms in the western Pacific, least of all the U.S. Navy's fifth and seventh fleets. That's where the Joint Typhoon Warning Center comes in. Part of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, it's one of the activities THE FEDERAL DRIVE is exploring in this week's series on how the Navy keeps on top of the weather. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Commander Angela Francis, the commanding officer of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, base at Pearl Harbor.

Many participants in the Thrift Savings Plan started to see a drop in call wait times when trying to reach a representative at TSP's customer service center, ThriftLine. There has been progress toward resolving issues with ThriftLine, said the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the agency managing TSP, at a July 26 board meeting. But there is still room for improvement to return everything to normal.