VA settles high-profile whistleblower case through OSC

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

• The Veterans Affairs Department has settled a retaliation complaint with a high-profile whistleblower through the Office of Special Counsel’s mediation program. Brandon Coleman was an addiction therapist at the VA medical center in Phoenix, Arizona. He said the hospital didn’t follow its own policies for monitoring emergency suicidal patients. Coleman has a new position with another VA medical center in Arizona. OSC Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said the rest of the details of Coleman’s settlement are closed. (OSC)

• The Homeland Security Department is adding a new capability to its EINSTEIN 3 cybersecurity program. DHS said it is implementing a web content filtering tool to  provide intrusion prevention security at the application layer for web traffic. Web content filtering works by blocking access to suspicious websites, preventing malware from running on systems and networks, and detecting and blocking phishing attempts as well as malicious web content. DHS said web content filtering will let it better detect malicious web-based traffic targeting federal networks and prevent that same malicious traffic from harming the networks.  DHS released a privacy impact assessment yesterday describing  the new capability. (DHS)

• The Agriculture and Energy Departments said they’ll award $10 million in funding for research projects focused on biofuels and other bio-based products. The money comes from the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. The aim is greater U.S. energy security and lower pollution. (Energy Department)

• The stalemate continues in the Senate over the bill which would fund many of the Energy Department’s programs. Bloomberg reports the Senate failed to reach the necessary 60 votes needed to move the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act forward. Democrats are still opposing it because of an amendment barring the U.S. from purchasing large stocks of heavy water from Iran. (Bloomberg Government)

• Former GSA administrator Dan Tangerlini has returned to the federal community. He launched the federal business for Seamlessdocs, a cloud platform  for government forms. Tangherlini left GSA in February 2015 and has been working for a privacy equity real estate firm. Seamlessdocs has worked mainly for state and local government clients to help move paper forms to digital and adding capabilities such as e-signatures and payment processing.

• Cyber is topic A at the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting tomorrow. A constellation of cybersecurity stars meets in, you guessed it, Silicon Valley. Specifically, Santa Clara. Presidential cyber special assistant Mike Daniel will be there, along with DHS undersecretary Suzanne Spaulding. Plus three cabinet secretaries and a platoon of CIOs. NSTAC members will vote on a report about using data analytics.

• The General Services Administration awards $23 million to upgrade the Derby Line Land Port of Entry in Vermont. This will truly be an upgrade as the plans call for a new main facility which will be more energy efficient. It also includes a new commercial inspection building as well. (GSA)

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation promises to kick cybersecurity into high gear after reporting five new incidents. The FDIC said in five cases, outgoing employees downloaded agency data onto their own storage devices.  The agency makes a public report any time 10,000 or more records are outside of its control. (Federal News Radio)

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.