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Although it dates back to World War II, Sandia National Labs continues to make important contributions to national security today. Sandia's research and development aid the Pentagon in its nuclear mission and civilian agencies in energy, climate and infrastructure security. Julia Phillips, vice president and chief technology officer of Sandia National Laboratories, discussed Sandia's research agenda with Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
The White House has issued six recommendations for protecting privacy in the era of big data. It's the result of a 90-day review of big data policies and practices. One of the top recommendations was to pass a National Data Breach bill, similar to the cybersecurity bill the administration proposed in 2011. Mike Hettinger, vice president for Public Sector at TechAmerica, gave industry's take on the recommendations to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
The Forest Service is bracing for a bad wildfire season. Drought and warm weather are a recipe for disaster. But that's not the agency's only issue. Last year it ran out of money to fight fires. It's hampered by old equipment, and replacements seem hard to come by. Tom Harbour, the Forest Service's director of Fire and Aviation Management, told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp what preventative measures the service is taking.
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. In today's news, EPA asks some employees to return their bonuses, and Rep. Adam Smith wants to keep BRAC alive.
Former General Services Administration Inspector General Brian Miller, will discuss MAS audits, the mandatory disclosure rule and the role the IG plays within GSA. May 6, 2014
Dr. Harry Greenspun, senior advisor for Healthcare Transformation and Technoloy at Deloitte, discusses how technology is being used to reduce health care costs. May 6, 2014
The American Legion says reports of veteran deaths resulting from VA hospital treatment delays mean it's time for Secretary Eric Shinkseki to step aside. But at the moment, they're the only major veterans' group to go that far. Most of the other large service organizations are waiting for the full results of an inspector general review of the alleged "secret waiting list" at the Phoenix VA hospital. Bob Wallace, executive director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told In Depth with Francis Rose it's premature to call for leadership changes.
The General Services Administration is introducing a new category management strategy. Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Tom Sharpe says it's similar to private-sector models. That's where products are managed based on a particular category, like how a pharmacy might have a specific business plan for its toothpaste section. The GSA says it will help agencies build a customized approach to different acquisition categories to meet their mission at a lower cost. Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners and author of the Week Ahead newsletter, tells In Depth with Francis Rose GSA's new category management strategy might actually be a blast from the past.
The furor over HealthCare.gov isn't gone quite yet. Several congressional committees still plan to conduct postmortems on what went wrong. The rollout of the website is just one example of how the federal government brand has taken a hit. Sanjay Sardar, chief information officer at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and government co-chair for this year's Management of Change conference, tells In Depth with Francis Rose restoring that brand is a very important job for the federal government for many reasons.
The federal workforce is filled with success stories. Those range from a physicist at the Commerce Department who won the Nobel Prize in 2012 to the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration who rose through the OIG ranks after serving 26 years in the Secret Service. Janet Kopenhaven, Washington representative of Federally Employed Women, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about how the Federal-Postal Coalition is starting a new campaign to specifically highlight women and their success stories.
Tha nation's largest veterans' service organization created a stir yesterday when it called for the resignations of the VA's top three officials: Secretary Eric Shinseki, Undersecretary for Benefits Alison Hickey and Undersecretary for Health Robert Petzel. Daniel Dellinger, the national commander of the American Legion, told In Depth with Francis Rose he and most other veterans groups have long supported the current leadership team. But recent media reports about preventable deaths in the VA health care system were too much to take.
The DATA Act is the nation's first legislative mandate for data transparency in nearly five years. It will have a huge impact on financial and performance data. It requires the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget to transform federal spending from disconnected documents into open, standardized data, and to publish that data online. Hudson Hollister, executive director of the Data Transparency Coalition, spoke to Executive Editor Jason Miller at the 2014 Government Performance Summit.
Effectiveness is the latest buzzword spreading across the federal performance community. Lisa Danzig is charged with building an effectiveness culture to go with the efficiency focus that has emerged over the last few years. Danzig took over the day-to-day management of governmentwide performance just about two months ago. She is the associate director for personnel and performance at the Office of Management and Budget. Danzig spoke with Executive Editor Jason Miller at the Government Performance Summit in Washington.
How do you build a culture of performance and accountability linked to financial realities? That's a question being asked at the Government Performance Summit at the Marriott Metro Center today. Jon Desenberg, director of policy for the Performance Institute, which is hosting the conference, spoke to Executive Editor Jason Miller about how performance standards change with the fiscal climate.