John Salamone, vice president of Federal Management Partners, and Larry Allen, founder of Allen Federal Business Partners, count down the top federal news stories of the week.

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Whistleblower protections are expanding. The Merit Systems Protections Board has ruled to grant protections to cases pending when the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was passed last year. Tom Devine, the legal director at the Government Accountability Project, joins In Depth with more on the ruling.

First Ruling Applies Anti-Retaliation Rights to Pending Cases (related link)

A first for the FedRAMP program: a federal agency has received accreditation. The Agriculture Department’s National Information Technology Center is now approved to provide cloud services to Federal agencies. Dave McClure, associate administrator for the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, joins In Depth with the latest FedRAMP developments.

Agencies like the CIA and the National Security Agency rely on big data to find criminals and help prevent attacks on the country. But those agencies are still perfecting how to leverage their big data tools. Bob Flores, founder and president of Applicology Incorporated and the former chief technology officer for the CIA, joins In Depth to discuss how the intelligence community is using big data.

Cuts are coming at the Army. Ten bases around the country will lose combat units as part of a consolidation. Maj. Gen. Mike Murray, the Army’s Director of Force Management, joins In Depth to discuss the new force structure and how the Army plans to deal with across-the-board budget cuts.

Army to cut brigades at 10 US bases (related story)

Security leaks are a double-edged sword for some agencies. In some cases a leak can make the agency look good, but for others — not so much. Ron Marks, senior fellow at George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, joins In Depth with more.