Wednesday federal headlines – June 17, 2015

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.

• Border patrol agents will get less pay in some overtime situations under a new compensation system from the Office of Personnel Management. Agents won’t get overtime pay for working more than 100 hours in two weeks. (GPO)
• The Social Security numbers of millions of current and former feds stolen in the OPM cyber breach were not encrypted. But it wouldn’t have mattered even if they were. Because, DHS says, the hackers used proper credentials to access the network. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and CIO Donna Seymour testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday. They said OPM’s antiquated IT infrastructure allowed hackers easy entry. At one point, the OPM Inspector General recommended that some systems be shut down because they were so vulnerable, but Archuleta declined. (Federal News Radio)
• Like dandelions, federal database hacks are popping up all over. Now, as many as 390,000 current and former Homeland Security Department employees, contractors and job applicants may have had their private data compromised. Officials discovered the breach last year, but Homeland Security just started notifying people last month. The breach hit systems operated by contractor KeyPoint Government Solutions. It’s separate from one that hit the same company last December. That one affected more then 48,000 employees. Keypoint provides background investigation services to the federal government. (Federal News Radio)
• Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016. It’s meant to boost the federal government’s cybersecurity workforce and strengthen its cyber defense. The Bennet-Portman amendment intends to create a standardized way of identifying and addressing cybersecurity personnel shortages. The senators also want to speed up the recruitment process for highly-qualified cybersecurity personnel. (Sen. Rob Portman)
• The Office of Management and Budget is preparing a new software tool to help agencies get an accurate inventory of the building and office space for which they’re paying. It would help them identify spaces they could close. That’s according to OMB Controller Dave Mader. He told two congressional panels that, as things stand now, agencies can’t be certain of what space they have. The federal government spends $21 billion a year on building maintenance and operations. A third of it goes to pay leases. The Obama administration has made it a priority to consolidate federal property, shedding rented space wherever possible. OMB told agencies to submit drafts of their five-year strategies by mid-July. They’re expected to finalize those strategies by September. (Federal News Radio)
• A new Senate bill aims to make the federal hiring process easier for agencies. The Competitive Service Act would let agencies create best-qualified lists of candidates to be shared across the government. Currently, agencies aren’t allowed to share candidates once they’ve been deemed eligible to hire. The six-page bill would require the Office of Personnel Management to write rules enabling candidate-sharing. The main sponsor is Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.). Also sponsoring are Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-S.D.) Republican backers are Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). (Federal News Radio)
• The Air Force plans to trim the flights made by the armed surveillance drones. It will run 60 a day by October, down from a recent peak of 65. The New York Times reports the Air Force is having to deal with the first wave of departures of the crew members who pioneered drone warfare. Air Force officials said they can’t train new pilots fast enough to replace the ones retiring. Over the past 10 years, drone flights have increased by a factor of 10. And the pace has exhausted many of the pilots. A reduction in flights could also affect the CIA. It uses Air Force pilots to conduct operations against terror suspects in Pakistan and Yemen. (New York Times )
• The White House has secured at least $4 billion in commitments from private companies and foundations to invest in clean energy technology. This is double the goal it set in February. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the Energy Department is also creating a central location to distribute information about energy and climate change programs and research done by national laboratories. The White House said the financial commitments were made by the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the University of California, among others. (Bloomberg)
• U.S. government debt held by the public is expected to rise to 107 percent of the economy by 2040. The Congressional Budget Office said an aging population and rising health-care costs are the reasons. CBO also said major changes in spending policies or tax policies are needed to put the federal budget on a sustainable long term path. In the meantime, higher interest rates, rising health-care and Social Security costs will boost government spending, which will also continue to widen the deficit. (Bloomberg)
• The Internal Revenue Service named Jeffrey Tribiano as the next IRS deputy commissioner. Tribiano is a former top official at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and a commissioned officer in the Navy Reserve. He will be in charge of IRS’ Office of Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure, which oversees protecting sensitive taxpayer information. Tribiano begins his new role on June 29. Douglas Kramer was sworn in as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration. SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said Kramer will help drive policy to modernize the SBA, broaden access to capital and contracts, and increase investment in America’s small businesses. She said Kramer’s confirmation completes SBA’s senior leadership team. (IRS/(SBA)
• Practicing good cyber hygiene is what the Coast Guard needs to protect against the next cyber attack. Adm. Paul Zukunft said good hygiene starts with defending internal systems from attack, enabling Coast Guard operations within its cyber systems and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure. These tenants will be enforced within the Coast Guard by a newly stood up 70-person cyber command. Zuknuft said his team needs to stay vigilant in perpetuity because just one person’s error can compromise the entire system. (Federal News Radio)

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