For the eighth time, Customs and Border Protection is celebrating a new lease on life. CBP’s P-3 aircraft are important parts of the agency’s work along the southern border of the United States to stop drugs coming into the country. The eighth P-3 to go through its upgrade program is back in the air. Lothar Eckhardt, executive director of the P-3 Orion Aircraft program at Customs and Border Protection, discusses the role of the P-3 program at CBP, and how they’re managing the upgrade program.

Finding the right IT contract should only take three simple steps, according to the General Services Administration. GSA’s new IT Solutions Navigator is a quick guide to help your agency buy IT products and services.

Your retirement security may not only be up to you, at least at first. The Office of Personnel Management says they’re treading water on processing retirement claims. That means you may not get a full payment for a while after you leave government. Federal News Radio Senior Correspondent Mike Causey has a checklist of things you should do before you retire in his column today.

The authority of a chief information officer might be undermining the success of your agency’s IT programs. The problem boils down to the role of IT at your agency.

The Veterans Affairs Department has done little over the last two months to satisfy House lawmakers concerns about the security of the data of more than 20 million veterans. The department also is under pressure for more details about the extent of repeated compromises of VA’s network by nation states. The rising tensions between the House Veterans Affairs committee’s majority and VA come as a report surfaces showing veterans are at a higher risk of identity theft than the average citizen. Federal News Radio’s Executive Editor Jason Miller is here with exclusive details of the report and the committee’s growing frustration.

The Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center says it analyzes and responds to operational cyber threats on a day-to-day basis. At the same time, it’s working to build concrete plans that public and private sector responders can act on in the event of a major attack.