The Defense Department believes it’s on the right track to reach auditability in 2017. One of the key elements of that is getting its pay system functioning well. DoD’s DIMHRS system was supposed to do that, but the Pentagon canceled it after it spent billions of dollars on the system and had nothing to show for it. Former Defense Department Comptrollers say the complexity of the DoD pay system, especially for uniformed personnel, is one of the biggest challenges to a streamlined and modernized process. Host Francis Rose talked to Mark Easton, deputy chief financial officer at DoD, at the Pentagon this morning for today’s edition of Pentagon Solutions. He explained exactly why the DoD pay system is so complex and what DoD is up against that private sector organizations and even other agencies don’t have to deal with.

The departure of Frank Wolf in the House of Representatives may also be the end of the bipartisan coalition of legislators from the D.C. area who stood up for Federal employees. Unless a Republican replaces Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), all the members that represent D.C. and the Maryland and Virginia areas around D.C. will be Democrats. Host Francis Rose asked Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) whether all-Democratic voices in a Republican House could impact federal employees.

You and your colleagues in government take criticism for risk aversion all the time. But that character flaw may actually be a strength.

Fresh talent from universities across the country is coming into the State Department. The Virtual Student Foreign Service is preparing a new generation of diplomats. Bridget Roddy is program manager of the Virtual Student Foreign Service in the State Department’s Office of E-Diplomacy.

The new commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service says his agency is understaffed and underfunded in every one of its mission areas. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu has more on John Koskinen’s plea to Congress for more resources.

Inconsistency among how inspector generals review agency cybersecurity is causing a reality gap. The progress many agencies are making to secure their systems are not reflected in the annual reports to Congress by auditors. Federal News Radio executive editor Jason Miller explores why there is a disconnect and what’s being done to close it.