The White House also released new initiatives to improve agency response to records requests, including tasking the new Chief FOIA Officers Council to identify and address the biggest difficulties in complying with the law and OMB will issue new openness and transparency guidance.
Agencies are meeting an administration goal to cut the number of federal employees and contractors who need security clearances for their jobs. But the intelligence community is still struggling to process security clearance investigations more quickly.
NSA Director of Information Assurance Curtis Dukes thinks identity theft was the reason for the OPM hacks. But regardless of their purpose, he says the breaches highlight a need for both industry and agencies to get up to speed to defend against smarter and more sophisticated enemies.
Amy Millman, co-founder and president of Springboard Enterprises, talks to Women of Washington hosts Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm about starting a business.
The Senate confirmed a new head of the Navy's Fleet Cyber Command and new chief of staff of the Air Force.
Hundred of thousands of federal employees work in space the government does not own. Leased space is a big ticket item for the government. Now the General Services Administration is rolling out a web application to help make leasing a little easier. John Thomas, of GSA's policy and program execution division, talks to Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the Automated Advanced Acquisition Program.
Two agency leaders with experience in transitions said the keys are communication, strategic focus and fostering investment and understanding agencywide.
A legislative assistant for Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), one of the key players on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said members are warming to the administration's idea to develop a $3.1 billion IT Modernization Fund. But he said some members of Congress are debating other alternatives to the fund.
Commerce Department CIO Steven Cooper says he'd like to see more flexibility when it comes to acquisition and collaboration with industry. One way to get it, he says, is through added language in the IT Modernization Fund.
Jon Hammock, the CEO of KeyLogic Systems, offers three steps for agencies to improve their budget processes.
The annual employee viewpoint surveys show the federal government is slowly improving in how fair and inclusive employees think management is. Mallory Barg Bulman, research director at the Partnership for Public Service, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin how the successful agencies do it,
The Agriculture Department's Food and Nutrition Service relies on state agencies to detect and stop fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP). States don't all have the people and money required to fully monitor their SNAP programs, and USDA doesn't have what it takes to watch the states. Kay Brown, director of education, Workforce and Income Security issues at the Government Accountability Office, shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.
Medicare payment rates are supposed to set the medical payment rates for all federal agencies. They do, with one notable exception, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a part of the Justice Department. The Justice Inspector General found that the bureau actually pays a premium to its outside medical providers. Justice IG Michael Horowitz tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin how that can be fixed
More than a year into its Security Summit, the IRS said it's building on the lessons it learned and progress it made to add a series of new authentication and information sharing measures.
The Supreme Court granted the Justice Department a writ of certiorari, meaning DoJ can argue its case on presidential appointments next year.