Congress

  • Defense Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter said for every dollar lawmakers add to the military's budget or for every program they continue that the Pentagon wants to cancel, it requires cuts elsewhere. He also called sequestration irrational and said DoD is not planning for it.

    May 31, 2012
  • The Industry Botnet Group — coordinated by the White House Cybersecurity Office and the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security — has posted nine principles, including coordination of cyber responsibilities across sectors and reporting lessons learned.

    May 30, 2012
  • In an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio, White House Cyber Czar Howard Schmidt said a majority of the senior leaders in government understand the importance of securing agency, contractor and critical infrastructure systems. He said among his office's biggest accomplishments is moving the day-to-day cyber authority of federal civilian networks to DHS. Michael Daniel will replace Schmidt, whose last day is in early June.

    May 30, 2012
  • The Customs and Border Protection directorate wants to weed out agents who "go bad" years into their careers, using more lie detector tests. Background checks at the Transportation Security Administration have kept more than 5,000 potentially bad actors from joining the TSA workforce. At Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leaders emphasize the importance of employee outreach and education to prevent corruption.

    May 29, 2012
  • The Senate confirmed the nomination of Joe Jordan as administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, as well as nominations for seven key Defense Department positions.

    May 25, 2012
  • The federal government now faces a fork in the road with regards to IT investment. George DelPrete, leader of Grant Thornton's federal government information technology, offers his insight. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) talks about legislation he introduced to increase contracting opportunities for small businesses. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) was one of the sponsors of a bill to help military families facing foreclosure.

    May 25, 2012
  • A Heritage Foundation report said of all the cybersecurity bills before Congress right now, the most important issue is the government would regulate activities in both the public and private sector.

    May 25, 2012
  • Senate panel rejects Air Force's proposed decreases to National Guard aircraft and personnel, orders cutbacks in DoD civilian and contractor personnel and imposes contractor salary caps.

    May 25, 2012
  • Federal News Radio wants to know who you think are the biggest movers and shakers in the federal community. Take our survey today.

    May 24, 2012
  • On this edition of the Capital Impact show, BGOV Trade Analysts Caitlin Webber and Ken Monahan evaluate trade tensions facing the U.S. Plus, Congressional Analysts Melissa Avstreih and Loren Duggan look at legislation to reduce or eliminate duties on imported goods.

    May 24, 2012
  • House lawmakers are still skeptical about what they see as wasteful spending to build green buildings in the Defense Department. Language in the 2013 defense authorization bill the House passed last week continues a prohibition on using any budget money to certify a DoD building as LEED Gold or LEED Platinum. The highest level allowed would be LEED Silver.

    May 23, 2012
  • An Al Qaeda video calling for "electronic jihad" against western government and infrastructure is "the clearest evidence we've seen" that Al Qaeda wants to attack according to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)

    May 23, 2012
  • In a letter to Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini, a bipartisan group of senators called for an evaluation of the structure of GSA's Public Buildings Service, tying it to the wasteful spending of the Las Vegas scandal.

    May 22, 2012
  • Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles said new legislation calling for diversity benchmarks in the military would codify the recommendations of the commission he led in 2011 and would make for a better armed forces.

    May 21, 2012