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Obesity is worsening as a military recruitment and readiness problem. Too many potential enlistees arrive at recruitment stations too fat. More than two thirds of active duty service members carry too much weight. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with someone who has studied this problem extensively, and has some recommendations for improving it: National Security Research Fellow at the American Security Project, Courtney Manning.
Overweight and obesity affect military readiness and retention, but it doesn't have to.
In today's Federal Newscast: Sen. Sinema (I-Ariz.) has introduced a bill that would improve death benefits for civilian feds. The SBA has come under fire for planning to ignore pandemic loans under $100,000. And the Coast Guard is looking into AI to catch illegal fishermen.
Women veterans, who were wounded or injured, are more likely, compared to men, to have post traumatic stress disorder and to die by suicide. That is according to the Wounded Warrior Project, which surveyed 18,000 male and female veterans. For more on the survey, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Tracy Farrell, VP of the Project.
Two tough new rules from the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council are coming, but originating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. They have to do with contractor incident reporting and for how contractors button up unclassified systems.
An urgent report from the Government Accountability Office is aimed at the State Department. GAO called for State to, in its words, "expeditiously get on with a cybersecurity risk management program." State has a plan, now it has to carry it out. For more on this, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Jennifer Franks, GAO's Director of Information Technology and Cybersecurity.
In today's Federal Newscast: The Defense Department awards $40 million dollars in research grants to four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Federal employees and supervisors will get even more hybrid-work training opportunities. And heading toward the 2030 count, the Census Bureau looks for public feedback.
Conference work on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 proceeds, even as nothing else in Congress seems to be working. As always, the NDAA has provisions affecting Defense contractors.
In today's Federal Newscast, the Partnership for Public Service is out with the latest crop of Service to America Medals, or "Sammies," winners.
The Service to America Medals program known as the Sammies, administered by the Partnership for Public Service, each year recognizes the most accomplished career civil servants. Here on the Federal Drive we've been featuring interviews with Sammies finalists each week since the spring. Tonight the Partnership will announce the winners at the Kennedy Center. To talk about all of that, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with Max Stier, the President and CEO of the Partnership.
Insider cybersecurity threats are just as potent as Russian and Chinese hackers. Some employees make mistakes, clicking on that bad phishing link. Unhappy or disgruntled employees, that's another matter. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talk with someone who says such people are far more susceptible than average to social-engineering attacks. Tom's guest was Max Shier, Chief Information Security Officer at Optiv.
The 8(a) program. It is a piece of federal jargon that has come to symbolize how the government helps small businesses get their fair share of contracting dollars. Now the underlying assumptions of the 8(a) program are under challenge in court. Could this be the end? For analysis, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin turned to Managing Partner of Centre Law and Consulting, Barbara Kinosky.
The National Armaments Consortium is a coalition of industry groups, whose members work on the next generation of ordnance and the energetics that power them.
As the world turns, most of it is probably scratching its collective head at the United States Congress. As the latest crisis, Israel's war against terrorists, enters its second week, President Biden pledged support. So what can we expect this week on the Hill? For more on the matter, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talks with Zach Cohen, Bloomberg Government congressional reporter.