Thursday federal headlines – June 4, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser is retiring from government. Some members of Congress have been investigating Zinser and allegations of misconduct for the past three years. He’s been the Commerce IG for the past seven years. (Federal News Radio)
  • Agencies said they’re doing a good job of processing Freedom of Information Act requests. But Congress doesn’t agree. The Justice Department Office of Information Policy said a few agencies are responsible for most of the backlog. Congress said it will revisit legislation it approved earlier this year. The bill would create a council of governmentwide FOIA officers. (Federal News Radio)
  • The donnybrook over 2016 Defense spending that’s broken out in the House has spread to the Senate. Republican leaders are pushing for a vote next week on a $612 billion bill Democrats say they won’t support and the White House says it would veto. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he expects as many as 200 amendments. Democrats don’t like the fact that non- contingency spending has been stuffed into the overseas contingency operations accounts. Those are not subject to budget caps. McCain said that’s the only way to give even the administration all it wants for Defense spending. (Federal News Radio)
  • Federal inspectors general are at risk of becoming lap dogs to the agencies they’re charged with investigating. That’s what three oversight experts told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Danielle Brian is executive director of the Project on Government Oversight. She said the many IG vacancies throughout the government constitute a pervasive threat to IG independence. Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz said the council of inspectors general regularly sends qualified potential candidates to the White House. At the moment, 11 agencies lack a permanent IG. President Barack Obama recently submitted nominations for the U.S. Agency for International Development, General Services Administration and FDIC. (Federal News Radio)
  • A group of diplomacy experts said the State Department needs to boost its use of science and technology in diplomacy. The National Academies published their findings in a new book. The authors said science and technology are rapidly becoming a key dimension of foreign policies of other nations. It makes 27 recommendations for the State Department to improve on its own diplomatic and peace-making mission. Among them, establishment of a Science and Technology Advisory Board. The report notes, State started a science and technology initiative in 2000, but the authors said it’s time for State to update its capabilities. Tom Pickering, a former undersecretary of State, and Adel Mahmoud, a biology professor at Princeton, led the study. ( National Academies Press)
  • Employees who face discrimination for their sexual orientation or gender identity have a new resource. The guide comes from the Office of Personnel Management, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board. It explains the rights and appeals process for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. And it reminds agency managers to promote a work environment that’s free from discrimination. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta said she wants employees to be able to focus on their work and skills, not worrying about losing their job or not being promoted because of discrimination. (OPM)
  • A new tool monitors the health of government websites. The General Services Administration’s 18F launched the site, called Pulse. It looks at two things — participation in the digital analytics program, and whether agencies use a secure domain known as HTTPS. According to the site, just under a third of government sites use HTTPS. The goal of Pulse is to help agency websites improve their analytics and to help all agencies move over to HTTPS. (18F)
  • Remember the man who flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol? He said his employer, the Postal Service, was trying to fire him. Doug Hughes said USPS wants to remove him from the agency for “unacceptable conduct.” He’s worked at the agency for 12 years. The Postal Service has placed him on paid leave while it investigates the incident at the Capitol. A grand jury indicted Hughes on six charges that carry up to 9 1/2 years in prison. (Federal News Radio)
  • Analysts said a bill changing the National Security Agency’s phone records program barely affects the agency. A former NSA lawyer told the Associated Press that the adjustments to surveillance as a whole are marginal. Reviews of NSA’s phone program show it wasn’t a critical tool in stopping terror threats. In fact, some former officials said many at the agency wanted to get rid of the program. The NSA will still be able to collect data on the Internet and it can get phone records on a case-by-case basis. (Federal News Radio)
  • Twenty robotics teams will compete in a NASA challenge next week for a $500,000 prize. As part of the Sample Return Robot Challenge, teams showed their robot can find and collect geologic samples without human control. NASA’s goal is to encourage innovation in navigation and robot manipulation. The space agency said those two things can help its space exploration capability and could have applications on Earth too. (NASA)
  • An open dispute has broken out between union members and management at the Federal Protective Service. GovExec reports a group of employees in the New England region has openly expressed a lack of confidence in the leadership there. Members of the American Federation of Government Employees call for more attention to equitable treatment, and concern for careers and morale. David Wright, the president of AFGE local 318, recently met with Susanne Spaulding, the undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at Homeland Security. Spaulding has ordered regular labor-management meetings to resolve the disputes. (GovExec)

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