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The Veterans Affairs Department finally fired Terry Gerigk Wolf last week. The former director of the Pittsburgh VA center had been on paid leave since June following a review of a Legionnaire's disease outbreak that claimed the lives of six patients there. Wolf is the fourth senior executive to be removed under the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014. John Palguta is vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss what that firing means for the future of due process protections for federal employees.
Budget pressures on the Defense Department have driven down spending on research and development. That gives the military less say in developments that might give battlefield superiority. But industry can help with a class of products known as non-developmental items. Retired Maj. Gen. Dennis Moran, now with Harris Corporation, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details.
The Veterans Affairs Department has reduced wait times for tens of thousands of veterans seeking health care. Part of the progress comes from the congressionally-mandated Veterans Choice program. It requires the VA to issue choice cards to vets so they can seek medical care from private providers with VA footing the bill. VA issued the first batch of cards this month. James Tuchschmidt, acting principal deputy undersecretary for health at the VA, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the rollout and the program.
U.S. Cyber Command is reviewing the results of its biggest exercise of the year. CYBERFLAG is designed to test out the military forces' ability to keep fighting when an adversary is attacking their networks, and to link up cyber forces with the more traditional air, sea, land and space domains. Rear Adm. Kevin Lunday is Cyber Command's director for exercises and training. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he talked about the exercise -- and the three types of teams involved in it -- with Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.
The pace of new Ebola infections appears to have leveled off, but its too early declare victory. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes, on the research front. Army scientists are working on a vaccine for Ebola. With troops being deployed to West Africa to help control and treat the outbreak, Army scientists are taking the most advanced vaccines forward as quickly as possible. Dr. John Dye is the viral immunology branch chief at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He tells Tom Temin on the Federal Drive that for the Army, research into infectious diseases has a long history.
VA will release by Nov. 21 a request for proposals for a new commercial scheduling system and integration services for that scheduling software with its VISTA health IT system.
The Veterans Affairs Department will not receive the final results for its 2014 FISMA audit until next spring, but auditors already have informed IT officials that they've identified material weaknesses for the 16th year in a row. Department IT officials say progress on closing IG recommendations and securing their systems and data is real.
Jeffrey Cathey and Lewis Runnion with Bank of America will discuss how the company is helping veterans find jobs in the private sector after they complete their military service. November 14, 2014
The Pentagon has warned Congress that the long, drawn-out military campaign against Islamic State militants is just beginning and could expand to include modest numbers of U.S. forces fighting alongside Iraqi troops.
The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is helping with Ebola civilian relief efforts in Africa. The agency launches a new public website featuring maps showing power grids, roads and other infrastructure that might be useful to civilian workers. Tools will let users pinpoint Ebola cases by location. Tim Peplaw is director of NGA's Readiness, Response and Recovery group. Peplaw points out to Tom Temin on the Federal Drive that for the NGA, support for humanitarian causes is nothing new.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The director of the Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs Healthcare System has been fired. The move comes a month after officials determined that she had committed “conduct unbecoming a senior executive,” along with wasteful…
The Army Corps of Engineers' strategy for building more resilient civil works infrastructure involves planning for more unpredictable weather events, and treating watersheds as integrated systems instead of a collection of standalone projects.
The Defense Contract Management Agency has about 12,000 civilian and military employees who interact with more than 20,000 contractors and handle more than $220 billion for the Defense Department. Lt. Gen. Wendy Masiello, director of DCMA, is receiving an award at the GovCon Award ceremony for her role in building business partnerships between the public and private sector. She told In Depth with Francis Rose about the partnerships she helped oversee.
The reorganization at the Veterans Affairs Department is a rebranding effort in many ways. VA Secretary Bob McDonald will hire a chief customer service officer to try to reverse an image of poor quality care for its customers. Kim Hayes, CEO and co-founder of Ambit Group, is also a finalist for Executive of Year at the 2014 GovCon awards. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose about Ambit Group's data-centric approach to agency reorganization.