Tuesday federal headlines – April 12, 2016

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

• The Office of Personnel Management is piloting a program capable of automatically searching social media and other public online information of anyone applying for a security clearance. OPM said its request for information is for research purposes only. Agencies were directed in the 2016 budget to begin using social media in the security clearance process. But they’re still waiting on official guidance from the Office of Management and Budget. (FBO)

• The Postal Service could lose $2 billion in revenue this year with the temporary price increase on stamps that expired this week. The Postal Regulatory Commission approved higher prices two years ago to help USPS recover losses from 2008’s Great Recession. The White House, and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.), said Congress needs to pass major legislative reforms to help the Postal Service survive. (White House)

• A former Department of Energy employee has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Charles Eccleston pleaded guilty to trying to hack the email accounts of other DoE employees to obtain and sell nuclear weapons information, according to federal prosecutors. Charging documents say Eccleston got the FBI’s attention after he walked into a foreign embassy in the Philippines in 2013 and offered to sell a list of email accounts. (Justice Department)

• Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division for the Justice Department Bill Baer has been tapped to serve as Acting Associate Attorney General. This makes him DoJ’s third ranking official effective April 17. Baer replaces Stuart Delery, who announced he was stepping down last week. (Justice Department)

• The Veterans Affairs Department has adopted a rule to make sure it doesn’t pay out life insurance benefits to family members convicted of killing the insured person. A final rule published in the Federal Registrar prohibits paying out life insurance proceeds from the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance and the Veterans Group Life Insurance to a beneficiary who is convicted of intentionally causing the death of the person who was covered. The original rule was published all the way back in October 2012. (Federal Register)

• The General Services Administration is conducting market research to ensure its cybersecurity contracts offer the latest and greatest technologies. GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Integrated Technology Services issued a request for information yesterday to better understand agency needs and what industry is offering. The RFI asks vendors for insights around 12 cyber services that fall into three categories: proactive, reactive and remediation.  GSA said it will use this information to improve current contracts and determine what gaps need to be filled. Vendors have until April 20 to respond to the RFI. (FBO)

• The Defense Department’s outgoing personnel chief Brad Carson says the Force of the Future reforms were inevitable and needed to make the Pentagon a 21st-century employer. Carson said there is still work to do, including reforming the way the military promotes its officers. He said the military needs to be more flexible about its up or out policy. Changes which would need the approval of Congress. (Federal News Radio)

• Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) wants to find new money and bonus money for the National Institute of Health to fund its $33 billion budget. About $3 billion of NIH’s budget is for salaries and benefits. Mikulski said she is also looking for money to fund a proposed 5.3 percent pay raise, which has gotten support from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Mikulski sits on her chamber’s appropriations committee. She is retiring in January. (Federal News Radio)

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