Radio Interviews

  • Federal officials have zeroed in on the cause of the radiation leak at the government's nuclear dump in New Mexico. It's kitty litter! Los Alamos National Lab packed hundreds of barrels with the stuff. Some made it to the dump. Others went to storage in Texas. And still more are at the lab. It's thrown the nation's nuclear waste system into chaos. Edwin Lyman is a Senior Scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive with an update on the situation in New Mexico.

    May 28, 2014
  • The Professional Services Council has launched a new initiative to focus on technology policy. It's picked a defense insider to lead it. Dave Wennergren served in the Defense Department until 2013 when he joined the contractor CACI. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss the latest chapter in his career.

    May 28, 2014
  • The Veterans Affairs Department says its claims backlog is far below its peak of three years ago. VA credits its progress to several changes under the Veterans Benefits Management System or VBMS. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive and described how VA is reducing the claims backlog. Read Jason's related article.

    May 28, 2014
  • DARPA launches its latest challenge program next week. It's called the Cyber Grand Challenge, and its goal is to completely transform the way computer network defense works. Over the course of two years, teams will try to build automated systems that can find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities so quickly that even the best human hackers in the world can't defeat them. Michael Walker is a former hacker who's now the program manager for DARPA's latest challenge. He talked about it with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu during a demonstration day at the Pentagon last week.

    May 28, 2014
  • Mike Olson, board chairman and chief strategy officer of Cloudera, will talk about some of the tools your agency can use to manage its stored data. May 27, 2014

    May 27, 2014
  • Bill Gormley, president of the Gormley Group and chairman of the Coalition for Government Procurement discusses innovation, contract duplication, and other issues with host Roger Waldron. May 27, 2014

    May 27, 2014
  • The strategy for the Network Services 2020 telecommunications contract focuses on expanding the number of vendors offering services. During the creation of the current contract, called Networx, the General Services Administration limited competition to five large carriers. Federal News Radio executive editor Jason Miller talk to In Depth with Francis Rose about how GSA is trying to learn from its mistakes of the past as it develops the new NS2020 strategy.

    May 27, 2014
  • Any day now, the General Services Administration should expect protests to start rolling in from vendors that didn't win a spot on the multiple-award OASIS contract. The contract's total value could be worth more than $10 billion. Roger Waldron, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, hosted a Multiple-Award Contract Committee meeting where they talked about the OASIS award process and why some vendors are unhappy with it.

    May 27, 2014
  • The results are in from a customer service survey of Thrift Savings Plan account holders. And the verdict is one that most organizations would kill to have. Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, tells In Depth with Francis Rose why they did the survey in the first place.

    May 27, 2014
  • The door to come back to government and get paid for it is still open for federal retirees or current employees getting close. The House passes an amendment to the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act so federal agencies can keep re-hiring federal retirees without cutting into their pensions. Jessica Klement, legislative director of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to explain the details of the provision and what it means for current and future federal retirees.

    May 27, 2014
  • The Department of Defense says it will make a decision soon on an electronic health record system. The Department of Veterans Affairs wants that system to be its VISTA system, but the VA is suffering through its own IT and health care provision problems. Aneesh Chopra. co-founder and executive vice president, Hunch Analytics and author of "Innovative State: How New Technologies can Transform Government," was the first Federal Chief Technology Officer. He joined Francis Rose in studio for the Executive Suite.

    May 27, 2014
  • A bipartisan House bill would reform federal tax law so that federal law-enforcement officers and firefighters can access funds from their 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plans when they're eligible to retire without facing a penalty. Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, called the current situation "one of those glaring inequities that needed to be addressed and fixed."

    May 27, 2014
  • The Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

    May 27, 2014
  • The president of the government contractor who runs FedBizOpps.gov pleaded guilty to criminal charges last Wednesday. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller wrote about this case in his bi-weekly feature, Inside the Reporter's Notebook. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what happened and whether this will impact the company's federal contracts.

    May 27, 2014