The Pentagon is wrestling with a series of tough challenges — budget, strategy and personnel related. The Army Reserve isn’t exempt from these challenges either. Major General James Young, Chief of Staff of the United States Army Reserve, told Francis those types of issues keep the Reserve on its toes.

Resiliency is the main goal of a new request for information from the General Services Administration. GSA says the RFI will help it improve cybersecurity contracts and procurement requirements. Emile Monette, GSA’s Senior Action Officer for Cybersecurity Policy, joined Francis to discuss what GSA is seeking with the RFI.

Your agency’s quest to master information sharing and transparency is a quest you share with Capitol Hill. Reynold Schweickhardt is the director of Technology Policy for the House Administration Committee. It was the host of the 2013 Legislative Data and Transparency Conference this week. He joined Francis to talk about the event.

Money for Recovery Act projects may be going out of the Transportation Department without the right oversight. The Federal Highway Administration is working with about $28 billion granted by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for highway projects. But some of the agency’s oversight goals are falling short. Joe Come is Assistant Inspector General for Highway and Transit Audits at the Department of Transportation. He talked with Francis about what his office found when it investigated the issue.

The Defense Department takes military suicides very seriously. DoD is pursuing a lot of different angles to stop suicides altogether. Jacqueline Garrick is the Director of the Suicide Prevention Office at the Department of Defense. She told Francis, DoD feels fortunate because the suicide rate is headed in the right direction.