Wednesday federal headlines – January 13, 2016

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

• Customs and Border Protection says it had its first incursion involving a drone attempting to fly drugs across the border back in November. A press release says the agency recovered approximately 30.8 pounds of marijuana dropped from by an OctoCopter near San Luis, Arizona. CBP says it must continue to adapt to meet new challenges. (CBP)

• The Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General is getting ready to audit the National Security Agency to see whether initiatives to improve security over its systems, data, and personnel activities have been effective or not. A memo to NSA officials said  the IG wants to know if processes and technical controls are effective at limiting privileged access to National Security Agency systems and monitoring privileged user actions for unauthorized activity. This is the first in a series of inspections required by the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2016. (DoD OIG)

• The FDA is one step closer to having an official commissioner. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved to move Dr. Robert Califf’s nomination forward, but the next step won’t be so easy. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who is on the committee, said she will hold up a vote on the Senate floor until the agency assures her it will write rules for labeling genetically modified salmon. (Senate)

• A new Interior Department Inspector General report found evidence of a long-term pattern of sexual harassment by a group of National Park Service employees stationed at the Grand Canyon. During NPS river trips, several employees compained about incidents of “discrimination, retaliation, and a sexually hostile work environment.” It also found supervisors and were notified, but no investigations were initiated. An agency spokesmen said NPS is reviewing the document and promises changes in hiring practices. (Interior OIG)

•  DISA wants to add another layer of security to the mobile devices used by DoD employees.The Defense Information Systems Agencies wants help to better secure more than 128,000 mobile devices across the Defense Department. DISA issued a request for information seeking answers to 22 questions from vendors. DISA said DoD wants to implement an enterprise-wide mobile software solution that works with existing mobile device management systems. The technology must offer preventive, detective, and corrective mitigation steps as potential or real cyber attacks.  DoD currently uses more than 94,000 Blackberry and 30,000 Apple devices. (FBO)

• When it comes to managing the federal workforce, Congress is of two minds —at least in the House. Two reform efforts sprout up. One advances, the other stalls. On a near party-line vote, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee cleared a bill to extend the probationary period for senior executive service members from one year to two years. But Republican leadership pulled back on a bill that would have limited administrative leave to 14 days. (Federal News Radio)

• The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding off on a bill that would have put a 14-day limit on the time that an employee can take on administrative leave. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) had planned to introduce the Administrative Leave Reform Act at a markup Tuesday. But he agreed to withdraw it because of significant problems and Democratic concerns with the bill. (Federal News Radio)

• Lawmakers remain skeptical of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s electronic disability claims system, despite a reduction in claim backlogs. The system’s price tag has ballooned from $580 million to $1.3 billion dollars. The Veterans Affairs Inspector General found the reduction in claims backlogs is not directly correlated to the electronic system. The reduction most likely came from other sources like one hundred and thirty million dollars in mandatory overtime. (Federal News Radio)

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