National & World Headlines

  • Army leaders say the belated passage of a 2013 budget helped this year's fiscal picture, but the service still is more than $15 billion short of funds. If sequestration continues, the service will shrink by at least 100,000 soldiers.

    April 24, 2013
  • Lee Barrett, executive director of the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission, will discuss interoperability and how to transfer sensitive healthcare data in a secure manner. April 23, 2013

    April 23, 2013
  • A week after the bombings in Boston and the catastrophic explosion in Texas, key federal agencies have unveiled or are refining their plans to furlough tens of thousands of workers, including those who protect the country and those who collect the money to pay the bills, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. And this makes sense because...

    April 23, 2013
  • A memo obtained by Federal News Radio points to a split in thinking inside the Pentagon's efforts to achieve interoperability with VA's electronic health record system. An assessment by the Pentagon's office of operational test and evaluation, an internal acquisition watchdog, finds DoD's project to build a new electronic health record is "likely to be detrimental to the President's goals" for interoperable health IT.

    April 22, 2013
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to rule out the possibility of providing arms to Syrian rebel groups. Although he did not make a clear commitment, his comments on a BBC News program indicated that he is considering a shift away from two years of neutrality on the Syrian civil war. He said that the decision of whether to intervene in the neighboring civil war is a "complicated question." The U.S. is already assisting some Syrian rebel

    April 19, 2013
  • Homeland Security, Defense and USDA are asking the Office of Management and Budget for the ability to reprogram agency funds to soften the blow of sequestration. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the agency must cut $3 billion by Sept. 30 and every mission, contract and person will be impacted in some way. She said the Coast Guard already is feeling the impact of the cuts in mission areas.

    April 19, 2013
  • Advocacy organizations are criticizing the Pentagon's proposed fee increase for TRICARE as unfair and discriminatory.

    April 19, 2013
  • President Barack Obama met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday. National Security Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden says they were joined by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. Hayden says during the meeting the President and Prince Saud Al-Faisal reaffirmed the strong partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and discussed developments in the region, specifically Syria. Among their principle concerns is how to bring the conflict to a peaceful end.

    April 18, 2013
  • Defense agencies and services are pulling back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants and contracts. Impending furloughs will further impair DoD's ability to get money out the door.

    April 18, 2013
  • Top officials from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps told lawmakers on Tuesday that across-the-board budget cuts in fiscal 2013 and 2014 would reduce readiness and cut heavily into their procurement and research and development programs. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said budget requests required under sequestration had cut about $6.1 billion, or 8 percent, from the Navy's investment programs in fiscal year 2013, which ends Sept. 30.

    April 17, 2013
  • It's been two years since the Plain Language Writing Act became law. While agencies are doing a better job, more work needs to be done. A federal expert on plain language is offering agencies the writing tips he employs on a daily basis. At the same time, a new bill in Congress would extend the plain language act to cover federal regulations.

    April 17, 2013
  • The Pentagon delays its RFP for a new electronic health record system. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says a revised approach is coming soon.

    April 17, 2013
  • Attendees at the 2013 Coalition for Government Procurement's Spring Conference will engage in a government-industry "Mythbusters" dialogue with acquisition leadership from the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration and others about key procurement issues that impact members' government business.

    April 16, 2013
  • It manages America's defense attaché system, operating out of U.S. embassies and consulates around the globe. It counts more than 16,500 military and civilian employees in 139 countries, with hundreds in Afghanistan. An unknown number work undercover. Its size has more than doubled since 2000, partly because of the restructuring of military intelligence, and many more employees are deployed abroad. Today, more than half of DIA's staff is posted outside of Washington, compared to less than a third in 2000. The agency is bolstering its clandestine operations overseas.

    April 15, 2013