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On Air: Federal News Network
Agency Oversight
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The list of items likely to spark major fights — or at least some distraction - once Congress returns is growing. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promises no more government shutdowns. Democrats called for budget negotiations to start last month. But Roll Call reports Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said no debates have started yet. Tom Shoop is editor in chief at Government Executive magazine. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that McConnell is making a promise that he doesn't have the power to keep.
August 14, 2015 MSPB Chair Susan Tsui Grundmann took aim at a recent law and the legislation it's spawned. The year-old Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 curtails the due process rights of Senior Executive Service members in the Veterans Affairs Department. Just recently, the House passed legislation to extend the measure to the rest of the VA's workforce.
August 14, 2015-
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Federal contractors have new guidance for protecting government information from the CIO and CAO Councils. Contractors will have to comply with some of the same standards agencies do. Jeremy Grant is managing director at the Cheroff Group and former director of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace at NIST. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose what this means for contractors who will have to comply with these NIST standards.
August 13, 2015 -
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The Environmental Protection Agency won't have easy going for its proposed new pollution rules for power plants. The agency's plan to cut carbon emissions at power plants will soon face lawsuits from utility industry representatives and a group of state attorneys general. They'll contest the authority of the EPA for the way it's using an obscure section of the Clean Air Act. Environmental attorney Richard Ayers is a founding partner of the Ayers Law Group. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on this case.
August 13, 2015 -
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New guidance on protecting non-sensitive information from federal contractors is out from the CIO and CAO Councils. It would require that contractors follow a specific NIST Special Publication for protecting their information. The Office of Management and Budget is asking agencies and vendors now for feedback. Final guidance is expected later in the fall. Nick Nayak is former chief procurement officer at the Homeland Security Department. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that the councils are looking to address incident reporting, information system assessments, and information security continuous monitoring.
August 12, 2015 -
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Agencies are under an Aug. 15 deadline to describe how they’ll implement the a key part of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. As part of a forthcoming FITARA dashboard, OMB wants to broadcast those plans as widely as possible.
August 12, 2015 -
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At least 38 cloud service providers are now compliant with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program -- up 41 percent over the past six months. And initial estimates show at least 700 cloud systems meet FedRAMP standards. But the General Services Administration knows there's a gap between what agencies and vendors report and what they're actually using. Matt Goodrich is FedRAMP director at the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at GSA. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that he wants to hear what's working -- and what's not -- as more agencies move to the cloud.
August 11, 2015 -
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The General Services Administration has 251 buildings in its real estate portfolio that consistently underperform financially. The Government Accountability Office says 116 of those buildings lose nearly $36 million a year on average. And 33 are responsible for 93 percent of GSA's overall loss. Dave Wise is director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that some agencies have challenges that are.
August 11, 2015 -
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The House Energy and Commerce Committee proposes moving the Chief Information Security Officer's job at the Department of Health and Human Services. A report from Republicans on the committee suggests moving the CISO job from the IT shop to the legal counsel's office. Federal News Radio's Emily Kopp explains why the legislators believe the agency would be better off with the CISO reporting to lawyers instead of IT experts.
August 10, 2015 -
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Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald says most veterans don't know what Blue Button, E-Benefits or MyHealtheVet are and what each of those services can do for them. He wants his new Veterans Experience Officer -- Tom Allin -- to consolidate the department's websites into one. Phil Carter is a senior fellow and director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose why simplifying everything could be an even bigger challenge for the VA.
August 10, 2015 -
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Last December, the Obama administration requested a $75 million, three-year grant program to help local police departments buy body cameras for officers. In May, the Justice Department announced $20 million in grants for the program. However, several reports show most departments aren’t equipped to handle the data load created by continuous video monitoring in the field. Some are already switching off the cameras to save on storage costs and minimize the IT impact. Wayne Arvidson is the vice president of video surveillance solutions at Quantum. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the demands of video monitoring, and how quickly the field is growing.
August 10, 2015 -
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Fraud has been a longstanding concern for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP. About a year ago, the Government Accountability Office took a look at the program and made recommendations that the Food and Nutrition Service reassess the detection tools that were being used. Today, FNS is cracking down on SNAP trafficking with predictive analysis. Jon Lemon is a systems engineer with SAS Federal. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to further discuss the program and fraud detection efforts.
August 10, 2015 -
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A court case in Europe could have a big impact on how your agency manages, preserves and pays for its data. Karen Evans is the national director of the US Cyber Challenge and former e-Government administrator at the Office of Management and Budget. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose why your agency's CIO should pay attention to the European Commission's suit against Google's Android operating system.
August 07, 2015 The Justice Department's Office of Information Policy is spearheading a proactive disclosure effort to measure the cost and effectiveness of making information from Freedom of Information Act requests available as soon as possible.
August 07, 2015
