GOP lawmakers consider impeachment hearing for IRS commissioner

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

• Congressional Republicans continue to weigh whether or not they want to move to impeach the head of the IRS. The House Judiciary Committee said it plans to have two hearings over the next several weeks to look into possible misconduct of Commissioner John Koskinen. They’re looking into claims he misled Congress during its 2013 investigation into the agency targeting political groups. They’ve invited Koskinen to testify at the first one. (House Judiciary Committee)

• The tech branch of the General Services Administration may have exposed sensitive information using the messaging application Slack. An investigation from the GSA’s Office of Inspector General said 18F staff allowed users inside and outside the GSA to view over 100 GSA Google Drives containing sensitive content such as personally identifiable information and contractor proprietary information. (GSA IG)

• More guidance is needed from the Defense Department as the military branches relocate combat equipment from Iraq and Afghanistan. A report from the Government Accountability Office found the guidance documents DoD issues during the process lack long term goals and mission statements. It said the Army, Navy, and Air Force also have no implementation plans for retrograde and reset efforts. (GAO)

• Federal agencies will soon have to make sure they’re contracts and solicitations include language directing contractors to adopt basic cybersecurity measures. A new rule in the Federal Register called for agencies to require vendors to implement safeguarding measures to protect systems containing information about federal contracts. (Federal Register)

• Everyone could use some more knowledge on cybersecurity. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has offered up to $1 million in grants to establish up to eight nonprofit organizations to support cybersecurity education and workforce development in local communities. It’s part of the Commerce Department’s Skills for Business initiative. (Commerce Department)

• The Senate version of the 2017 defense authorization bill will take aim at the Defense Department’s organization structure and staff. The bill would get rid of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistic. Instead, the office is split up under the undersecretary for research and engineering and the undersecretary for business management. The research and engineering side would focus on innovation and weapons development, while the business management side would deal with day to day activities. The bill also cuts the senior executive service staff by 25 percent. (Federal News Radio)

• Social media is now fair game for background checks under new federal security guidance. The Office of the Director of National Security said agencies can use person’s public social media pages to learn more about them. Applicants are not required, nor can agencies ask, to provide passwords or log in to a private account. Any Information collected on anyone else during the course of a background search will not be kept. (Federal News Radio)

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