Survey: Many feel drone delivery system still isn’t safe

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

• More people like the concept of drone delivery systems than dislike it, but many are undecided. A new study by the Postal Service Inspector General looked to gauge how the public would feel about flying machines delivering packages and mail. The survey found the biggest worry among Americans is drone malfunction rather than bad actors misusing them. That may also help explain why more people believe drone delivery systems are not yet safe. People are excited though about the potential for speedy deliveries drones could provide. (U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General)

• An online one-stop-shop is launching for cyber best practices. Cyber. gov stands up in the coming weeks, said federal Chief Information Security Officer Greg Touhill. The website combines best practices and strategies from government agencies in one place. Touhill said his staff is currently working on setting up basic guidance for the site. (Federal News Radio)

• The Defense Innovation Unit Experimental is working on new contracts that will make it easier for the Defense Department to hunt cyber intruders and use big data for warfare operations. DIUx is DoD’s attempt to reach out to inventive small businesses. DIUx Senior Adviser Robert Wheeler said he thinks DoD’s path to innovation is here to stay even after the election.

• The Defense Department was supposed to debut its long-awaited electronic health record at four test sites in the Pacific Northwest by this December, that plan has changed. DoD said it needs more time to develop and test the interfaces between the new center for electronic health record and the legacy systems that house most of its patient data. A new schedule the department announced yesterday said the new Genesis system will roll out to just one hospital — at Fairchild Air Force Base — in February. The other three test sites, also in Washington State, won’t get the system until June at the earliest. Officials don’t believe the delays will affect the schedule for full deployment of the system, but that was already planned to take until 2022. (Federal News Radio)

• The Air Force hired its most recruits in decades. The service brought on nearly 34,000 new airmen in 2016. The increase in new hires came from the Air Force’s plan to build its end strength from 311,000 to 317,000. The Army also brought in a high number of recruits in 2016.

• The Government Accountability Office said it was helping agencies take a more risk-based approach to preventing fraud rather than encouraging a “pay and chase” mentality. GAO released a fraud prevention framework last year. But the framework is getting new life now that the Office of Management and Budget is telling agencies to take a holistic risk approach to combating improper payments. Agencies still have no way to determine how much of improper payments they make are due to fraud. (Federal News Radio)

• The Federal Communications Commission’s effort to rethink how it uses technology to meet its mission is literally paying off. The FCC has reduced its spending on old technology by 35 percent. FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray said two years ago the commission spent about 85 percent of its IT budget on legacy systems. Today, Bray said the FCC has reduced that amount to about 50 percent. Bray credited the move to the cloud computing and the agencywide focus on serving their customers in a different way. Part of that change is the ability to deliver new services in days rather than weeks or months. (Federal News Radio)

• Customs and Border Protection selected a proposal for its first partnership approved under its new process for accepting donations valued at $3 million or less. The Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority in Arizona will let CBP convert dock space to a refrigerated area for them to conduct food safety inspections. (Customs and Border Protection)

• David Lopez, general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said he will be stepping down this coming December. Lopez has held the position since 2010, making him the longest-serving general counsel in the history of the agency. EEOC also won its largest award ever of $240 million under Lopez’s leadership. (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

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