Federal Drive

  • Veterans with disabilities often benefit from service dogs. Service dogs just don't happen. They require careful training. The PenFed Foundation has information on what it takes to raise and train a service dog from a puppy. To learn more, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with James Schenck, CEO of the PenFed Foundation and Andrea McCarren, the president of the PenFed Foundation. 

    December 21, 2023
  • The Government Accountability Office, the chief oversight arm of Congress , has a new chief scientist. He joins the agency after having been chief scientist at Noblis, a nonprofit research and consulting institute with many federal clients.

    December 21, 2023
  • In today's Federal Newscast: Some federal correctional officers are set to lose pay bonuses in 10 days. The White House forms a task force to fight fraud against veterans. And on its fourth anniversary, SPACECOM's commander says it has reached full operational capability.

    December 21, 2023
  • The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) have for decades limited Social Security payments available to certain federal employees; mainly those under the old Civil Service Retirement System and anyone else who receives a pension from earnings that were not taxed by Social Security. A bill to repeal GPO and WEP had a Congressional hearing last month at a field hearing in Louisiana. For analysis, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with John Hatton, the Vice President for Policy and Programs at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. 

    December 21, 2023
  • The Government Accountability Office recently upheld the protest of a contract award from the Defense Intelligence Agency. DIA was hiring a small business to conduct counterintelligence training. It used a slightly unconventional approach to evaluating bidders.

    December 20, 2023
  • The last thing the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) needs is new employees who have a substance use disorder or or felons with access to VA pharmacies. But the agency lacks a consistent procedure for finding out about such people from the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the VHA, in fact, hired thousands of people who might have drug-related convictions.

    December 20, 2023
  • Theaters, opera halls and concert venues were all hit hard by the pandemic. People didn't want to gather in close quarters. To get a gauge on how and where people might be participating in the arts again, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) focused on that topic in its most recent five-year survey. For more on the methodology and how the results guide NEA activities, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with the agency's director of research and analysis, Sunil Iyengar. 

    December 20, 2023
  • In today's Federal Newscast: Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh has been nominated to be the next NSA director and commander of U.S. Cyber Command. Seven federal agencies are banding together to form the Biden Administration's "Climate Corps.” And it took three years, but the Navy finally has a new acquisition chief.

    December 20, 2023
  • An acting commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Services. Two governmentwide acquisition contracts to be awarded and a third launched. Dealing with the FBI relocation mess. The General Services Administration you might say, has a lot on its plate.

    December 19, 2023
  • In today's Federal Newscast: Martin O'Malley turned 60 this year; now he gets to run the Social Security Administration. The Defense Department IG is warning that systemic problems with military health care could be leading to opioids being overprescribed. And one of the Energy Department’s major labs is creating a new hub for artificial intelligence research.

    December 19, 2023
  • The National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress finished just days ago, moves the marker on several matters peripherally connected to the armed forces. Covington and Burling attorneys Alex Hastings and Michelle Pearce dropped by the Federal News Network studios in Chevy Chase, Maryland to talk with the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. 

    December 19, 2023
  • They somehow cobbled together two consecutive continuing resolutions. Now members of Congress aren't sure what will happen when the current one expires. At least one Democrat in leadership predicts a shutdown next month.

    December 18, 2023
  • The Biden administration's executive order on cybersecurity from three years ago alerted the uninitiated to the existence of software bills of material (SBOMs). The idea is, knowing all of the elements that make up a software package can help buyers better understand their cybersecurity holes. But can the SBOM also give hackers the blueprint they need. For analysis, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with Endor Labs adviser and former federal cybersecurity manager Chris Hughes. 

    December 18, 2023
  • More organizations worried about cybersecurity are turning to software bills of material (SBOMS). Getting them from software suppliers as a matter of compliance is one thing. Gaining cybersecurity intelligence from them is another.

    December 18, 2023