In Depth interviews – July 30

This is the In Depth show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

Dan Blair — President and CEO, National Academy of Public Administration

Despite warnings to Congress, the U.S. Postal Service is facing its first default this week with a $5.5 billion payment to make by Wednesday. However, the agency says unless Congress bumps back the date again, it won’t be able to make the payment.

So what does it mean if the financially troubled agency defaults? For some insight, we ask Dan Blair, the president and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration.

USPS: We will default on $5.5B payment due this week (related story)

Vicky Schultz — Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division

Capital One has agreed to pay $12 million to resolve allegations the bank wrongfully foreclosed on military service members homes and improperly repossessed cars.

The agreement came from work done by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Vicki Schultz, the deputy assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division at Justice, joins In Depth to discuss the case and the resolution.

Capital One to pay $12M in case on servicemen (related story)

Alan Chvotkin — Executive Vice President and Counsel, Professional Services Council

It’s tsunami season at the federal government. Feds are being swept away by the “retirement tsunami,” and waves of amateur feds are rolling in too.

Almost a third of all contracting officers right now have less than five years of experience, according to a recent report in The Washington Post.

So what do the relatively fresh faces at agency contracting shops mean for the contracting process? Alan Chvotkin, the executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, discusses the government’s contracting workforce gaps.

Mackenzie Eaglen — Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, American Enterprise Institute

Big businesses that serve the Defense Department have groups that can help them get the message out about how sequestration would affect them. But small businesses often have a harder time getting their voices heard.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has written about why sequestration poses an even bigger threat to small businesses than to the large defense-industrial giants.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily DoD Report. For more defense news, click here.

Bill Woods — Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues, Government Accountability Office

Most federal agencies are required to have chief acquisition officers, high-level politically appointed officials tasked with managing agency acquisition shops.

But many of those officials may only be meeting the letter of the law, according to a recent Government Accountability Office review, which found many CAOs do not actually have acquisition management as their primary duty.

Bill Woods, a director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at GAO, discusses the report’s findings.

Multiple roles more help than hinderance say agency CAOs

Former OFPP officials say government in state of ‘paralysis’ (related story)

Mike Causey: George Clooney and us

For first time in 20 years, NSA participates in Defcon hacker conference

Military branches refine cyber roles

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