National & World Headlines

  • No more motivational speakers, musicians or promotional swag. The Defense Department is banning entertainment-related expenses at its conferences, according to a new memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

    October 11, 2012
  • The Defense Department and the intelligence community are working on joint data standards as they migrate toward enterprise IT environments. Both organizations also are implementing roles-based, access control to ensure secure information sharing.

    October 11, 2012
  • In an Oct. 9 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinskei, Sen. Susan Collins requested the agency disclose whether employees responsible for planning the two conferences held in Orlando, Fla., last summer, also worked on other conferences. In addition, Collins said she wants to know how much conference planners earned in bonuses and other awards for their work.

    October 10, 2012
  • U.S. and Iraqi officials say the extremist group has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation's western deserts, seizing on regional instability and government security failures. Iraq has seen a jump in al-Qaida attacks over the last 10 weeks, and officials believe most of the fighters are former prisoners who have either escaped from jail or were released by Iraqi authorities for lack of evidence after the U.S. military withdrawal last December. Many are said to be Saudi or from Sunni-dominated Gulf states.

    October 10, 2012
  • What will happen to General William "Kip" Ward, the former head of the U.S. Africa Command. A DoD Inspector General's report concluded that he spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lavish travel and other expenses. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is among those who believe that War should be allowed to retire at his full four-star general rank. Retiring as a three star would mean about $208,000, a four star general officer make more than $236,000.

    October 10, 2012
  • Denise Wu of Clifton Larson Allen explains how the Chief Financial Officers Council has moved the idea of a Statement of Spending to the front burner. Julian Pecquet of The Hill discusses the bitter partisan battle raging on Capitol Hill over last month's attack in Benghazi. Sharon Virts-Mozer, president and CEO of FCI Federal, details how some local businesses are thriving despite down economy and impending sequester.

    October 10, 2012
  • Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise will reach initial operating capability next March on the way to full implementation in 2018. The NGA and DIA are building a common desktop for all of the intelligence community agencies.

    October 10, 2012
  • Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.

    October 09, 2012
  • John Kasianowicz is the NIST project leader on a project coming up with a cheaper way to test DNA for possible illnesses. GAO's John Hutton says that few agencies are compiling inventories for their service contracts. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo discusses a new inspector general's report. Dr. Harry Lambright of Syracuse University studied the effectiveness of two former federal officials. David Hall-Matthews talks about a ranking of nonprofits.

    October 09, 2012
  • As the biggest spender in the federal government, the Defense Department has the greatest potential to award contracts to small businesses. But the nature and breadth of defense contracts can leave out small firms. In part one of Federal News Radio's special report, The Small Business Dilemma, we examine how the Pentagon is taking steps to make it easier for small firms to do business with the department.

    October 09, 2012
  • The Defense Acquisition University Alumni Association hosted a special forum last week on the role of the congressional staff and lobbyists in the defense acquisition process. Bill Bahnmaier, the president of the association, told In Depth with Francis Rose the way the roles interrelate is often obscured because there's rarely a "direct link" between them.

    October 08, 2012
  • Agencies and universities are refining job descriptions, revamping training and education programs and helping industry, academia and government to begin to reach consensus on the makeup of a modern-day cybersecurity workforce. The Office of Personnel Management also has made changes to personnel systems so that job descriptions map to the framework. The plan already has had in impact on cyber education at colleges and universities across the country.

    October 08, 2012
  • The agency made awards to AT&T and Verizon for more than 1,000 Apple and Samsung handheld and tablet computers. DISA also wants for industry to develop a mobile device Common Access Card-enabled virtual thin client.

    October 05, 2012
  • Turkey stepped up strikes on a Syrian border town on Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers, while its parliament approved further military action in the event of another spillover of the Syrian conflict. Reuters says they're "seeking to unwind the most serious cross-border escalation in its 18-month-old crackdown on dissent, Damascus apologized through the United Nations for shelling which killed five civilians in southeast Turkey on Wednesday and said it would not happen again, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said."

    October 05, 2012